MANILA – September 26, 2013 – Hoping for a deeper understanding of current issues, the Philippine Daily Inquirer has launched "Inquirer Conversations," a series of forums to engage the newspapers’ readers.
"There are many topics that are covered by our articles and our columns and we feel that a deeper conversation or look into these topics are very important. i think it’s only then that we can have a greater understanding of these important events that we can actually develop and nurture our passion for change," said Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, Inquirer president and CEO, at the forum launch on September 25, a video of which PDI posted online.
According to Prieto-Romualdez, this is PDI’s ultimate mission — to be a catalyst for social progress and change.
The series began with columnist Cielito Habito’s discussion of the pork barrel system, which has been the topic of recent headlines involving a billion-peso scam allegedly masterminded by trader Janet Lim Napoles.
"What we saw today was we wrote about this actually seven years ago and it was really very jolting to see that in some ways some things have not changed, and again that’s the reason why we want to have more of a conversation to be able to discuss the drive and commitment for change," Prieto-Romualdez said.
Now the Priority Development Assistance Fund, the pork barrel system has evolved over the years, as Habito explained in the first Inquirer Conversations.
"The President keeps talking about reforming the mechanism, improving the system. Of course, we’ve heard that before. Not that I don’t trust the President, but I don’t trust that mechanism at all of putting money in the hands of legislators in effect," said Habito, former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) chief, and Inquirer columnist since 2003.
Habito also discussed other ways of responding to communities’ needs, such as the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), which was created in 1992 under the Ramos administration.
"You don’t need legislators meddling with budgeting at the micro level, or even the meso or sectoral level. The true rationale for the PDAF, or any of its past and future variants is really a political rationale rather than a developmental one," Habito said.
"We’re very happy and honored that our columnist Ciel has broken ground and been able to talk about this very important topic," said Prieto-Romualdez, who said the forum was a first of hopefully a series of conversations.
"We’re very happy that part of this conversation is really with our readers. Welcome and we look forward to engaging you in this conversation," she said, addressing the audience at the forum.
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