Holiday fast break

Has it been a good or bad year for our country?

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

If you dwell on the staggering magnitude of thievery that continues to be uncovered, with top officials complicit in turning the country into a paradise for plunderers and gangsters, then it’s been annus horribilis for the Philippines.

But if you consider the possibilities for dramatic and far-reaching reforms that the scandal has opened up, plus the outrage that continues to be expressed by the public, then there’s reason to be hopeful.

At this point, unfortunately, this hoped-for silver lining in the grand thievery seems to be dimming.

I should be dwelling on the positive on Christmas Eve. But the thieves aren’t taking a break, and could in fact be using the holiday lull for a fast break to sneak their pork, pork and more pork barrel into the 2026 budget for a yearlong lechon feast of tax-funded political patronage.

The shameless looting of the “most corrupt budget ever,” the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), completely eclipsed the scandal over Mary Grace Piattos and other cases of alleged fund misuse by Vice President Sara Duterte that were unearthed in inquiries conducted by the 19th Congress.

We thought things would be different in the new 20th Congress and the proposed outlay for 2026. So it’s such a disappointment to see hardly anyone, it seems, in either the Senate or the House of Representatives protecting our interests and moving to stop the congressional fast break back to business as usual.