By Renato Reyes Jr., Bayan President
The recent national budget debacle under the Marcos regime, months before the mid-term elections, exposes the rottenness of the political system in the country.
The national budget has been skewed in favor of political patronage at the expense of social services. The politics of “ayuda”, the giving of aid purportedly to help the poor, is now seen as the path to electoral victory.
Through cash aid, the poor are being enticed to vote for politicians who will end up crafting legislation that will keep the people poor and perpetually dependent on cash aid. The very cash aid that comes from the taxes paid by the people will be used to secure votes for politicians who will end up keeping the people poor. It is a sad, vicious cycle in our political system. It is the very definition of “ginigisa sa sariling mantika”.
The legislative track record of Congress has given us extended land lease by foreign companies for up to 99 years, continued liberalization of the rice industry to the detriment of the farmers, and added taxes on consumers. So far no legislated wage increase, no meaningful salary hikes and no expanded free social services.
We have seen an unprecedented rise in corruption-prone confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) and other pork barrel allocations over the past years, with the President’s CIF of P4.56 billion being the biggest.
Bureaucrat capitalism is thriving under the current regime, taking root in “black budgets” and cash-aids, aside from traditional kickbacks in contracts.
The people want to rise from poverty and not be perpetually dependent on dole outs from government. The people also want free and fair elections that are not marred by various forms of legalized vote-buying. These cannot be realized so long as the system of bureaucrat capitalism remains firmly entrenched. The people must expose and oppose this rotten system. The people must fight, against great odds, for candidates that go against this rotten system.
It will be to the Marcos’ regime’s great shame that such a corrupt budget will have the president’s signature affixed by the end of the year.#
