Real score

Other than the massive plunder of the country’s treasury, the flood project scandals are also about taking down the entrenched patronage politics adeptly practiced by the ruling political class.

By keeping this closely in mind, we can start having some clarity for our burning rage and righteous protest rallies over the unconscionable thievery and then doing something truly momentous against one of the deep-seated ills of our present politics.

Consequently, we should also be aware that our self-preserving ruling class, aided by their moneyed enablers and mercenary operatives, is clearly and actively playing political charades.

Damage control charades that are deceptions meant to appease or confuse or make sure we have distorted views of the real score behind the flood control scandals, which is the unreformed ruling class’ hold on power.

In fact, should we not see through all these machinations, we’ll succumb to the deception that the dynastic-driven ruling class alone is responsible for the “handling” or reining in of recalcitrant members of their class.

And, should present political tensions start giving comfort to the ruling class, they’ll even succeed in making us believe their empty vows that they’ll “dismantle” the present reigning oligarchy, which had made possible the flood control thievery.

But none of this ever happened as our tragic history attests. Merely changing the old guard only assures the overt creation and empowerment of new guards of a new and “improved” oligarchy.

Nothing perhaps illustrates this certain catastrophic political reality than this Sunday’s foreboding “Trillion-Peso March,” which many fear some ruthless elements of the ruling class will hijack to suit their own selfish agenda.

Sunday’s expected huge rallies not only recall the previous upheaval over Congress’ discretionary pork barrel funds and the subsequent August 2013 “Million People March” but also eerily echoes the same issues of corruption.

Officially going by the name Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the nefarious pork barrel scam gave each House member P70 million and each senator P200 million to freely spend in a year.

The funds were almost automatically appropriated in the national budget and were meant to finance local “soft” development projects like scholarships and livelihood programs and “hard” projects like roads and buildings.

But blatant corruption hounded the clearly political patronage projects, prompting the Supreme Court to abolish the PDAF in November 2013. Prominent politicians were subsequently charged and hauled to court. Some of those charged, however, are still freely roaming the halls of power.

Unfortunately, the hated pork barrel took different guises after the SC decision revealed a conspicuous loophole.

While the SC decision banned lawmakers from identifying development projects after the enactment of the budget, it did not ban projects BEFORE the budget’s enactment, meaning anomalous projects could be “baked into budget deliberations and the General Appropriations Bill.”

With this exception, old and new guards of the ruling class went to town, cheerily co-opting along the way the DPWH’s billion-peso flood control projects, aside from other things.

A scandalous co-optation which even led to the ghastly phenomenon of lawmakers owning construction companies and newly-billionaire contractors becoming lawmakers.

At any rate, our present outrages, including our bodily protests this Sunday, still have a long way to go in putting our still unrepentant ruling class to heel.

In the meantime, however, let’s not lose the momentum by indulging our feudalistic and tribalist political proclivities, which is what the warring members of the exploitative ruling political class secretly hope we do.