Out of 109 members of the Lakas-Kampi party who won seats in the House after the May 10 elections, only half have so far not defected to the Liberal Party. The LP is, of course, that of soon-to-be-inaugurated President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino 3rd. Don’t call politicians who switch party loyalties prostitutes. You could be insulting the latter. This is an old saw that columnists love to use as if the conceit was their original idea.

Others like to use animals. They say about their hated politician that he is like a pig and in the next breath declare that they are withdrawing their statement because it is an insult to pigs.

But you can’t say these ugly things about all of the scores of Lakas-Kampi congressmen (and—women) who have defected to the Liberal Party. Their defection guarantees Quezon City Mayor and soon-to-be QC Representative Feliciano Belmonte Jr.’s victory in the contest for the speakership.

And at the same time they are assuring themselves of getting their pork barrel. But they are doing so not necessarily for their own benefit. At least not all of them. They have defected for the sake of their constituencies.

Those who have been congressmen before know only too well how members of the House who were not allies of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo did not get their pork barrel allocation year after year. Not only that. They also couldn’t get their pet bills passed.

It’s unfair therefore unfair to condemn all congressmen, or all governors and mayors, who join the new Malacañang officeholder’s party, for being greedy and unprincipled pigs and prostitutes. Yes there are some of these who have defected thinking only of themselves and their wives and mistresses. But most of the others have switched party affiliations for the sake of their constituencies for whom no public market, schoolhouse or medical clinic would be built if they do not swallow their pride and join the new ruling party.

What if Noynoy’s regime will ape that of GMA in the dispensation of pork and other funds?

We have this political culture of opportunism and aversion to virtues and values.

That culture allows us to be beggared by the victor, to kowtow willingly to the victor and be reduced to nothingness—morally and physically—in exchange for patronage.

Poverty—or desperate need for something vital, something most basic to our feeling of comfort—makes most of us Filipinos agree to be treated like fools, to be robbed of the proper government services that our taxes have paid for, to be reduced to begging the government official or his mere clerk’s help to get what we are owed.

Most beggars smilingly receive the insults mean people mutter before plunking a peso coin into their plastic cups. The beggars are demeaned by the insults. These add to their loss of self-respect.

There are a few among us who have the faith-based power to use the humiliations that come from being needy into a source of spiritual good. But most of us are like the beggars who smile away the insults. Most of us often have to beg for fairness from a boss or a government clerk, or clemency from a kotong cop.

As a result our sense of self worth is shriveled. We are bereft of that sense of dignity proper to children of God.

So we end up feeling and behaving to each other as beings that are less than fully human.

Foreigners who have observed us Filipinos wonder how and why so many of us can be so uncaring toward each other, so irresponsible as parents, so unfaithful as spouses, so dishonest as employees and bosses.

Will the time ever come when the members of Congress will pass laws that will keep them from behaving like pigs and prostitutes? Pass laws that will curtail the excesses of their class? Prevent their dynasties from reigning forever and ever?

That time will come—will return—when more Filipinos recover their sense of values and honor.

When that time comes there will be no need for so many members of Lakas-Kampi to crawl like worms to the Liberal Party.

Maybe that time has come.

For President-elect Noynoy had proposed laws that would compel presidents to be faithful to the purposes for which funds are allocated. He authored House Resolution No. 788 to create a Congressional Oversight Committee to monitor and check how intelligence funds are used by government agencies.

Congress could thus ensure that lawfully allocated funds are actually used for the purposes they were originally intended.

In the Senate he authored the Budget Impoundment and Control Act (SB 3121). “Impoundment” is the presidential power to refuse to have funds released that Congress has allocated in an appropriation law. It is this power that has let the Arroyo Malacañang take over the power of the purse from Congress. Sen. Noynoy Aquino filed SB 3121 to control the president’s impoundment powers. It would require a president to seek congressional approval each time a part of the budget is to be impounded.

If President-elect Aquino maintains his principles even when he has become the sitting president, he would then make sure all—including members of the opposition—get their pork barrel allocations. He would make sure funds allocated by law to benefit the provinces and constituencies of opposition figures are released. That would make our country a refreshingly equitable one.

Authority and power imposes a moral obligation on the power holder. The obligation is for the authority to use his power only for the good of those over whom he rules. (The Manila Times)