Shameless

 It is said that the typical Filipino has a good sense of right and wrong; what he does not have is a sense of shame.

This Pork Barrel issue, although one of the biggest scams that have come to surface the past few years, is but one of many instances when Filipino politicians shamelessly use government funds for projects that are self-serving. No wonder so many people run for public office. Many of them know that there is much to earn by being a politician and it seems that everyone wants a piece of the pie, and those living in poverty are left with nothing.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle called out the politicians engaging in such a shameless scam to try to visit the informal settlers and those living in the streets that they may know how people can be affected by their greed.

“Who will not be shocked with these reports and with the magnitude of money involved? ... It’s like your heart is broken into pieces. Can one really do this to one’s neighbor? Can one really stomach causing this kind of damage on the country?” he said.

Tagle said those accused should get a feel of how the poor live so that they would know how to spend the PDAF properly.

  

What is even more ludicrous is how they drummed up so much enmity against the former Chief Justice and against former president GMA, but nobody wants to investigate this Pork Barrel scam and seek the truth. Not congress, not the senate. The president himself is trying to ignore the issue. And for good reason – they all dipped their hands at the coffers of our nation through the PDAF which is often a discretionary fund for imaginary projects where politicians and middle men like Janet Napoles make a killing.

Look how shameless our politicians have become. The numbers speak for themselves:

stats courtesy of Rigoberto Tiglao

Under this present administration, the budget for pork has tripled, but the gap between the rich and the poor have remained wide. The poor are still poor, the hungry are still hungry. This is Daang Matuwid at its worst. Janet Napoles may be at the center of this issue but around her are greedy politicians who have amassed so much wealth. If there is anything we have learned from this Pork Barrel fiasco, it’s that we have now identified how thieves in the government steal from the poor. We have long known that politicians steal from us; now that this scam has surfaced, we have a working idea of how they do it.

In the middle of it all: Janet Napoles

We have to fight injustice where we see it; the RH law, for example, gives contraceptives to the poor in the name of women’s rights to Reproductive Health. What many don’t realize is that these contraceptives could have been used to fund education, job creation, and skills training, all of which can directly help the poor – and half of the poor are women, lest they forget! Meanwhile, those who pushed for RH stand to gain so much from their masters, AKA foreign lobbyists while the poor remain poor! Oh, the utter shamelessness of these people!

As pro-lifers, these are issues that we cannot ever disregard. As Christians we have the mandate to fight for social justice and for the rights of the poor, the weak, the oppressed, and those who are too weak to fight for themselves. The Lord himself demands not only prayers for our suffering brethren but action on our part to make sure that we ease their suffering. We must continue beating the drum until this whole issue is investigated, and that the investigation be led by people whose integrity cannot be bought.

Today, ironically, we celebrate the memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, the Polish priest who died at the hands of the Nazis during World War 2 out of selfless love. After the outbreak of World War II, which started with the invasion of his nation by Nazi Germany, Kolbe provided shelter to refugees from Greater Poland, including 2,000 Jews whom he hid from Nazi persecution in his friary in Niepokalanów. On 17 February 1941, he was arrested by the German Gestapo and imprisoned in the Pawiak prison. On 28 May, he was transferred to Auschwitz as prisoner #16670.

At the end of July 1941, three prisoners disappeared from the camp, prompting SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch, the deputy camp commander, to pick 10 men to be starved to death in an underground bunker in order to deter further escape attempts. When one of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, "My wife! My children!", Kolbe volunteered to take his place.

In his prison cell, he led the other condemned men in song and prayer and encouraged them by telling them they would soon be with Mary in Heaven. Each time the guards checked on him, he was standing or kneeling in the middle of the cell and looking calmly at those who entered. After two weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe remained alive. The guards wanted the bunker emptied and they gave Kolbe a lethal injection of carbolic acid.

Today, his martyrdom shines even as the darkness of our greed and selfishness have seemingly enveloped our land. St. Maximilian Kolbe is the patron saint of the Pro-Life movement.  Pope John Paul II declared him "The Patron Saint of Our Difficult Century.” Today we ask for his intercession, that we may live not with selfishness, but with charity that seeks to save lives, and not to undermine those who cannot fight for their rights.