Drowning in poverty
In the March 2024 survey, self-rated poverty was already a terrible 46%, then skyrocketed to 58% in June, moved a tad higher to 59% in September and then surged during the Christmas season to 63%. True to the prediction of critics, the Duterte and Marcos Jr. regimes worsened the economy, with the record-breaking debt of Duterte becoming an albatross around Marcos Jr.’s neck.
National Budget: Cycle of swindling, system of bureaucrat capitalism must end
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.
National Budget: Cycle of swindling and system of bureaucrat capitalism must end
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.
Curse of the purse
The power of the purse supposedly exercised by the two houses of Congress has become a myth and the crafting of the annual appropriations proposals reduced to an opportunity to haggle over money, particularly before an election year.
Bayan Muna, others slam AKAP budget restoration over legislated wage increases
“The P26.159 billion allocated for AKAP in the 2024 budget would be better spent on implementing substantial wage increases for both public and private sector workers. What our people need is not temporary ayuda (assistance) but a living wage that can sustain their families,” Colmenares stated.
For social services, against pork barrel
Bakit ang pera para sa kalusugan, edukasyon, at iba pang pangangailangan ng taumbayan ang laging tinatanggalan? Pero ang pork barrel para sa DPWH, confidential and intelligence funds, at iba pang discretionary funds ng administrasyon ay hindi lang pinananatili, kundi dinaragdagan pa. This is the height of misprioritization and callousness!
Who can dislodge political dynasties?
Often, it is a political dynasty that dislodges another political dynasty. However, rare political events and shifts in voter preferences can elevate leaders outside of political families to highly competitive positions.
Senate swims in swill for Sara
The Senate, as currently constituted, will be blind, deaf and mute in the event that the House of Representatives calls the dare of Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio for her to be impeached for culpable violation of the Constitution, loss of trust and confidence, graft and plunder, and tried before the upper chamber.
Marcos Jr.’s failed state
Now, Marcos Jr. is also busy deodorizing the same failed state by finding nothing “important” in the impeachment of Sara Zimmerman Duterte, taking a cue from the joke that is Sara and his dad, who wants to clown himself away from problems big and small.
Time to end Duterte’s legacy of bloated confidential, intelligence funds
Pres. Bongbong Marcos continued Duterte’s legacy of bloated CIFs and even shared the bounty with Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte. He provided her P125M of her own confidential funds in 2022 and P650M in 2023 to do as she pleased. We now know where that went.