The last two months have been rife with political drama. From the news of Janet Lim-Napoles’ pork barrel scam to the supposed abolition of the Priority Development and Assistance Fund (PDAF) to the swell of crowds in Luneta Park, political awareness has come into vogue. Filipinos all over the world have rallied to scrap the pork barrel system, or at least the concept of it.
Calling for the abolition of the PDAF, or the pork barrel, has proven problematic, though. At the recent Million People March, attendees were asked to put down their banners in solidarity with the movement: Abolish pork barrel. Or was it actually “abolish the PDAF?”
Throughout the grounds of Luneta Park, protesters called for the elimination of corruption and the arrest of Janet Lim-Napoles; other camps protested against President Aquino, for reasons that were not solely related to the pork barrel system.
A few days before the Million People March, President Aquino suddenly said that he was for the abolition of the pork barrel system. But in reality what he proposed—this scrapping of PDAF—still keeps the pork barrel system. This system supposedly provides “more transparency.” However it is merely a Band-Aid solution to the greatest ill engendered by the pork barrel system: Patronage politics. While this goal is noble, attaining it is no easy feat.
While Filipinos may believe that the pork barrel system is wrong at its very core, legally abolishing the age-old system is something that will not come quickly. And though Ateneans may—or should—be lauded for attending the Million People March, their conviction will be tested by their willingness to follow through with the movement.
The biggest problem with the pork barrel system, or the PDAF, or the giving of lump sum funds to legislators, is that pork barrel is difficult to define. This issue of delineation equates directly to the issue of Philippine politics: It is confusing.
That may seem like a very base problem to focus on given the plethora of difficulties in the country. However, the fact that defining a concept or system is problematic is telling. How can we call for the abolition of pork when we don’t know what it is?
In his essay “Politics and the English Language” George Orwell wrote, “One ought to recognize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language… If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy.”
The politics in the Philippines is warped to the benefit of the politicians, who continue to spew their overwrought hour-long speeches that essentially say nothing at all. And even if saying that Filipino politicians and Filipinos in general ought to make their politics clear by speaking plainly, I think that it still warrants being said.
We need to be reminded that for any form of corruption to be scrapped from the government, we need to be clear in saying so.
