This talks about the confidential funds have been running along my timeline for a while now. It has come to a point where I have been tempted to rebut on certain points but I opted to bite my tongue. I mean, it is quite obvious that those who have been latching on the issue has been grand standing the whole time. What has been hurled have been merely accusations and speculations to which no evidence have been presented yet. Those who started the speculations have, on record, already admitted that they have no supporting evidence on the accusations that they have made.
Confidential funds by its nature is confidential, meaning it is not privy to public knowledge and scrutiny. National security is the primary reason why confidentiality is of prime importance. For example, programs directed to mitigate recruitment of students to the communist movement fall under these type of funds. You would not want to declare the projects you are undertaking to suppress the movement as an advantage against the other party. Again, by keeping the program secret, it gives you an advantage against the enemy of the state.
That is why it is not surprising that those who started the “dramatics” were individuals who have associations with organizations who have “red” leanings. It is their group that are greatly affected by these programs of the OVP and it is further diminishing their numbers. The programs hit directly on the recruitment process of these groups that is rooted in the educational system. These groups, blinded by the confidentiality, are unable to counter the programs to their disadvantage. So they make accusations that would “pressure” the OVP to divulge the programs. They are trying to work on getting information to counter the actions against their recruitment.
Although confidential funds are not for public consumption, it is still subject to the scrutiny of the Commission on Audit. If there is one entity that can call out for misuse, it is the COA. This means that, if there were any questions to the use of these confidential funds, the COA should be able to shed light on the matter. This would also mean that those partylist representatives should have had supported their claims with an actual COA audit. To date, those who have made the accusations against the OVP had already admitted that they have no evidence of fund misuse. All the noise they made in the issue, to their admittance, was mere speculations. The accusers failed to establish their accusation.
After the failed attempt on allegations of misuse, here comes another issue that 125 million was spent in 11 days. The allegation is again meant to question the use of these funds. First, we don’t have a law that limits expenditures on a prescribed period of time. In fact, an agency can spend all its allotted budget in a day and that should not be an issue provided that these expenditures are aligned and it followed the process outlined by the policies of COA. The amount spent on a period of time is not indicative of fund misuse.
Now… if these noisy individuals think that there was grave misuse, the challenge for them is to file a case against the OVP. If they think that the actions were unconstitutional, they should stop their drama and just file an impeachment case. They should put their foot where their mouth is and put their words into actual actions of presenting evidences. Remember the burden of proof is with the one making the accusation. The absences of action, more than their drama, is just plain political maneuvering. Nothing more, nothing less.
The virus senator’s recent drama on socmed over the 125M expenditure was just an act. Drop the drama and just do your work. Again, file a case if you have evidence. Stop your political theatrics of trying to gain public sympathy. Ikaw na nga lang ang pambato dyan, mukhang malalag ka pa dahil dito. The challenge for you is to subject your accusations into the fires of justice, not with your crocodile tears.
Otherwise, you are just “confidentially”grandstanding.
A video went viral recently that really got into my nerves. It was a confrontation between a cyclist and a car owner along Quezon Avenue where the latter cocked a gun on the former. This was all caught on video by another driver and, just recently, by a CCTV footage from a nearby establishment.
The footage enraged a lot of netizens, that includes me, for the arrogant act of brandishing a gun in broad daylight. The search for “boy kalbo” yielded interesting information on the gun-toting guy – he was a former police officer who was dismissed from service and was a co-terminus employee of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Hmm… kaya pala mayabang. He tried to depict himself as the victim during his press-cons and interviews where he even called for responsible blogging after the video went viral. His more recent “excuse” was pulling out the senior card and that he was only on a defensive position against an “armed” cyclist whose hand gloves had “knuckles”. Of course, the knuckles became chuckles as both videos showed who was on the attack and that the cyclist does not seem to be wearing knuckles. The video says it all.
As always, the driver claims that we do not know the whole story as the video only shares a portion of what really happened. Yes, that may be true. There could have been an earlier encounter between the cyclist and the driver that was not captured on camera and, yes, there is a possibility that the cyclist may have instigated the conflict. There is that possibility. BUT… when the driver pulled out that gun without imminent threat from the cyclist, it became his fault. No amount of explanation will justify the act of pulling out and cocking a gun on an unarmed cyclist. The act sets the direction of the conversations. This is a classic example of one wrong action placed the period in the sentence. When the driver gave in to his emotions and cocked the gun on, let me emphasize this part again, an UNARMED civilian, THAT became the WRONG part of the story. No amount of reason and justification will make the act the correct course of action. At that point, it became the fault of the car driver.
The connections of the car driver with the QCPD did more damage to him and the police force rather than alleviate his dire situation. The press-con and the succeeding actions of the police force made it look that he was being favored by the police force. A huge doubt hovered over the QCPD that has caused, I assume, a former colleague’s career and a series of inquiries on the institution and its personnel. The police force of QC was suspected of siding with the dismissed police official giving him the opportunity to present his side as if he was the aggrieved party. Boy Kalbo’s story was given more mileage while the real victim of the offense was made to look as if he deserved having a gun cocked at him. The mileage did work but to their disadvantage which later resulted to a resignation by a police official. I guess resignation was an easy way out rather than the possibility of getting dismissed from the ranks, like the driver.
What annoyed me the most was the call of the driver to be “responsible” bloggers. The video that went viral got him into a lot memes and parodies. He became the butt of a lot of jokes and hate. That is the thing about today’s technology – we get to record personal moments as well as the insane ones, his actions included. In a couple of minutes, he became “famous” through the internet and, in a few days, details about his dismissal and him getting fired from government service were all in the news feed of every Filipino. Yes, he had the audacity to call out social media users to be responsible. Ganito po ano… bago niyo po kami sabihan na maging responsable sa socmed, maging responsible gun owner muna kayo. Don’t impose on us something that you can’t even practice. Start with yourself… ay… revoked na pala ang lisensya mo… pano na yan?
On the lighter side, the guy has been exposed. He was fired from his current government employment, he got his license revoked, there is the chance that his driver’s license will be revoked, and he has got a lot of personal appearances to attend to. He got what he deserved. Don’t play the victim because you are not. Your history and the actions that you did does not paint you a hero in any way. It is best that you tone down on the arrogance and take on the accountability. Taking your accountability could actually save your face. If there was one thing that you have taught us is that you DON’T let your emotions run you down.
adobongpinoy 