STAR EDITORIAL: PROFLIGATE (USE OF PUBLIC MONEY)
MANILA, NOVEMBER 4, 2009 (STAR) The public cannot stop lawmakers from going to Las Vegas to watch the fight between boxing champion Manny Pacquiao and Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto in mid-November. Speaker Prospero Nograles, who is already in Washington ostensibly for meetings with American legislators, is leading the pack.Not even an appeal from Malacañang for lawmakers to show more sensitivity to the Filipino people, many of whom are still suffering from the effects of recent natural calamities, is likely to be heeded. And why should lawmakers listen to Malacañang, when Palace officials themselves are notorious for insensitivity to public opinion when it comes to globetrotting?
What taxpayers can do is demand a proper accounting of public funds. This can be done by compelling the lawmakers to submit an official declaration of the source of their travel expenses. Government auditors can then check the accuracy of the declarations.
Some lawmakers have reportedly said they would give Pacquiao moral support in his fight. But Pacquiao is a boxing superstar even overseas, and there are enough Filipinos in the United States to cheer him on. He doesn’t need moral support from traveling Philippine lawmakers. There is no way lawmakers can justify watching a boxing bout as official business. If they cannot be dissuaded from watching the fight live in Las Vegas, with all the expenses such a luxury would entail, they should at least reassure the public that taxpayers would not be footing the bill.
Such profligate use of public money is particularly galling at this time, when the country is asking foreign donors to finance relief and reconstruction efforts in the wake of cataclysmic flooding and mudslides. Amid all the misery, lawmakers refused to part with some of their congressional pork barrel for relief and reconstruction efforts. Now they may use precious public funds for a ringside seat in the Pacquiao fight, showing Filipinos once again that membership in Congress is all about perks, not public service.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2009
by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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