Tag Archives: Pork Barrel

International, Law Enforcement, Politics

NAPOLES SEEKS AUDIENCE WITH OBAMA IN MANILA

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imageManila, Philippines – Suspected pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles wasted no time in trying to reach out to Barack Obama after it was officially announced that the U.S. President will be visiting Manila in October.

Obama has included the Philippines in his Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) tour. Manila will be Obama’s last stop. It will be his first visit to the Philippines.

Napoles is the central figure in the  Philippine pork barrel  scam involving the diversion of ten billion pesos in public funds into fake non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the pockets of senators and congressmen. She is currently in prison and facing charges for illegally detaining one of the whistleblowers in this escalating scandal.

Speaking through her lawyer Lorna Kapunan,  Napoles said that she has sent a letter to the U.S. Embassy in Manila requesting a private meeting with Obama when the latter arrives in the Philippine capital.

Informed sources said that in her letter, Napoles has indicated that she will be asking Obama to grant her political asylum in the U.S. and would like to be accommodated aboard Air Force One when Obama leaves Manila to return to the U.S.

Napoles said that she is very confident that she will be granted asylum because she has contrbuted immemsely to the economic recovery of America through her multimillion-dollar U.S. investments and the much talked-about shopping sprees and lavish parties by her daughter, aspiring fashion designer Jeane Napoles.

Napoles said she will not be a burden to America and promised that if Obama interceded on her behalf to have all her assets unfrozen, she will invest all her money in the U.S. and help create more jobs for Americans.

Politics

A BOOST TO THE PHILIPPINE BEEF INDUSTRY

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imageManila, Philippines –  As calls for the scrapping of the Priority Development Assistance Fund, better known as pork barrel, escalated, Philippine Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto  has proposed that a good portion of P26-billion fund be realigned and spent on education—for more teachers, classrooms, science labs and even meals for malnourished children in public schools.

“If plans to scrap the P26-bllion PDAF in the proposed 2014 national budget will push through, then a big portion of that amount must go to education,” Recto said . He has a new name for the pork barrel fund—Basic Education Enhancement Fund or BEEF.

Recto’s proposal was immediated applauded by sectors of the Philippine beef industry. Commercial and backyard cattle raisers alike said that it is about time that the beef business be given a big boost.  Consumption of pork in the Philippines far outnumbers that of beef, primarily because of the prohibitive prices of the latter.

“Recto’s proposal, if approved by Congress, would be the best advertising for the beef industry,” cattle raisers said . “And thanks to the pork barrel scam, pork’s reputation has significant declined. Now it is beef’s time to stage a comeback,” they added.

The total cattle inventory in the country as of January 1, 2013 was almost 2.50 million heads. This was 0.19 percent higher than last year’s record of 2.49 million heads. Of the total inventory, about 2.32 million heads or 93.00 percent were raised in backyard farms. The remaining 7.00 percent or about 0.17 million head were raised in commercial farms.

As of press time, the Cattle Industry is finalizing a nationwide ad campaign and has come up with a catchy meme, “Butt out, pork. Here’s the beef!”

Politics

2016 CANDIDATE KRIS AQUINO BREAKS SILENCE ON PORK BARREL SCANDAL

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imageTarlac, Philippines – On the eve of the planned Million Protest March in Manila, presidential sister and  TV host Kris Aquino has finally broken her silence on the Priority Assistance Development Fund (PADF) or pork barrel, which has consumed the country’s daily business due to a massive scam that has robbed Filipino taxpayers of more than 10 Billion pesos.

The Monday “people’s march” calls for the total abolition of pork barrel and the prosecution of citizens and politicians who have personally benefited from the scam. Philippine president NoyNoy Aquino, bowing to public pressure, had announced that he would scrap the pork barrel.

Kris Aquino, who had previously announced her intention to run for governor of her native province of Tarlac in Central Philippines in 2016, has all but been silent on the pork barrel scandal. Finally, at a press conference in Tarlac this weekend, Aquino declared, “As governor of Tarlac, I will not need any pork.”

Potential opponents in the 2016 Tarlac governor’s race were quick to dismiss Miss Aquino’s statement. “Of course it’s easy for her to say that,” said one local political foe, “she’s vegetarian!”