Anti-Corruption to be Discussed on SONA

image from gmanewsnetwork.com

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Office of the Ombudsman filed plunder charges against three senators for their roles in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III is expected to address that on his state of the nation address scheduled on July 28. It will be interesting to see what he has to say about it since it is very embarrassing how three senators are found to be pocketing funds. It is going to tarnish the reputation of the country since these people were voted in to their positions by the people. There have been rumblings that the senators will be reconsidered but those rumors were quickly put to rest by the Ombudsman.

The corruption cases made a lot of headlines nowadays due to the fact that the government officials were using funds that came from the citizens. The Filipinos paid their taxes rightfully so they deserve to know where the funds go to. Once the issue with Janet Lim Napoles came out, Filipinos started to rally since they realized their money is going to the benefit of the government officials. In fact, the children of these officials are seen having a good time like going on out of the country trips and buying luxury items such as gold watches and jewelry.

President Aquino will most likely encourage everyone to vote wisely on the next election which is in 2 years. He will point out that it is the Filipinos who are responsible for the high ranked government officials right now. One issue that is expected to be tackled in the next SONA is the preparation of the Filipinos for upcoming storms. It seems like every year lives and homes are shattered thanks to really bad weather. President Aquino is expected to announce new ways in finding out about the storm in advance so everyone can prepare.

Accept Abad’s Resignation, President Aquino

image from Bandera

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President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Cojuangco Aquino III actually issued a statement when asked why he did not accept Budget Secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad’s resignation from his post at the Department of Budget and Management. Unfortunately, the president did not really state a valid reason. He is saying the DAP or Disbursement Acceleration Program is benefitting the people when there is no evidence that it has indeed benefitted them. The president is saying the government’s most vociferous critics are saying that the program has benefitted the country. Unfortunately, the opposite is true for his statement as the government’s most harsh critics are completely against the program.

Nobody really knows the true effect of the DAP to the people and the justice department are determined more than ever to find that out. Secretary Abad has the right to resign so President Aquino should not stop him for any reason. Abad could want to have a career shift and President Aquino does not know it. The fact that the country improved from the DAP is just an opinion from the President and Secretary Abad. There is really no proof that the country was able to benefit from the program so the fact that the country was able to benefit was made from pure presumption.

The DAP is illegal so it has no right to exist. The Supreme Court of the Philippines has deemed it unconstitutional. The president must know that Abad can be replaced as there are many people who want his post right now. If he wants to resign because of something he either did right or wrong then let him do it. It is going to do P-Noy more harm if he refuses to accept the resignation of one of his men. It is also possible Abad wants to get out of this mess while it is still early.

SM Says Aura Area Should Not Go to BCDA

SM Aura image from Manila Coconuts

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SM Prime Holdings Inc. has built SM Aura for the residents of Taguig so they see no reason why it should benefit BCDA and not the people of Taguig. SM is sick and tired of all the restrictions the BCDA is trying to place on the property when it is not really theirs. The BCDA is trying to argue that the property should also benefit Taguig when SM did just that when they placed a park on top of the mall that can be accessed even when it is off mall hours. The food establishments on SM Aura are international brands like NBA Café, Ramen Nagi and Todd English Food Hall. There is a reason why the Al Fresco part of SM Aura is always jam packed and that is because the food here is good.

SM won the bidding for the property in an auction fair and square so BCDA really has no right to dictate to them what they want them to build in the property. They actually let Taguig dictate what they want to build as there is a little bit of everything in the Aura property including a mall, convention center, park, government offices and a lot more. The fact that SM let BCDA dictate what they have to build in the property is completely unfair since they won the auction.

It is widely expected that SM Aura is going to be crowded for a long time since it is a nice place to hang out. It won’t be long before the building there is open to be occupied by offices which will make the area even more crowded. BCDA’s arguments are so pointless that Taguig officials are starting to questions their points. Even the Taguig mayor knows that the Taguig residents were able to benefit from the new mall of SM.