For this Jersey teen, Janet Napoles should go to jail just like Bernie Madoff

Janet Napoles and Bernie Madoff

Janet Napoles and Bernie Madoff

By Megan Villarin

First and foremost, Janet Lim Napoles should receive the punishment she deserves. The same for those who benefited personally from this scandal. They should be placed in prison and their wealth confiscated to compensate for some of the loss of funds. She is one of many business people in the world who takes advantage of their connections to the government to abuse the public trust.

I feel the legislators that gave their funds to Napoles should also be penalized. They should be removed from their position and fined.

Similarly, Bernie Madoff was an investment advisor and stockbroker in Wall Street who deceived those who invested in his scheme and used the money for his own profit. Although the people who invested in his company lost their money, he was punished accordingly and was put in to prison for life: 150 years.

Both of these people are examples of greed and misconduct that undermine and circumvent the law, believing they can get away with it. However, in similar fate to Madoff, Napoles should face the consequences of her wrongdoings and should be punished to the full extent of the law.

Nevertheless, she is not the only one at fault in this scam. The Philippine government should face responsibility for their actions. Even here in America, we are seeing an increase in abuses of administrative officials, followed by a growing distrust of the government in general. The government should be doing what is best for the people. After all, the purpose of the government is to serve the people. Time after time, countless officials — such as Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer — have let us down and committed all sorts of scandals.

The misuse of government funds appears to be all the rage. In a case right now in Philadelphia, the public education funds are short by $50 million, and it is uncertain when the public schools in the Philadelphia district will be opening. Education should be a top priority of our politicians and government officials, but clearly the funds for the Philadelphia schools were either misallocated or misused.

The Philippine Congress should be held liable for their abuses of the PDAF money and if they continue to not make any progress in legislation pertaining to the social and economic issues in the Philippines, then changes must be made and new officials should be elected.

I do not support pork barrel funding. I believe all government spending should be stated and the projects/companies in which they invest in, should be thoroughly inspected to ensure that the money is going toward its just and intended purposes. Pork barrel spending, specifically PDAF, should be amended and eradicated in order to avoid this type of corruption, deception, and betrayal of the public trust.

Between the government and the people, it is like a vicious cycle in which the people elect officials who end up breaking their promises. People are unaware of national issues both here in America as well as in the Philippines and they rely and succumb to these politicians’ words. An example of this is that people, specifically impoverished people, tend to vote for celebrities, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger in California and Manny Pacquiao in the Philippines. There is no questioning that these men are great at what they do, however, their knowledge of the political system is contentious.

It is important for the public to open their eyes and realize what the problems are in our countries and given the power to vote, should learn to make the right decisions, especially after the corruption of the Marcos regime. Although it is impossible to guarantee how trustworthy a person is despite their background, the Filipino people should really think wisely of who they are electing, or else it will be impossible to solve any of the prevalent dilemmas that nation is facing.

Sixteen-year-old Megan Villarin is a junior student at Bordentown Regional High School in New Jersey.

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3 Comments

  1. mm wrote:

    Excellently written commentary by an intelligent young lady! Bravo!

  2. boy G wrote:

    solution is to lower the tax to 7% (this way the govt will have lesser money, thus lesser money to steal)
    next is to pass a law that salaries of congressmen will be the minimum wage. i think so with the senators
    i love to see the common farmer, tricycle drivers battling it out for the posts of congressmen and senators.
    all those educated can thus go into private employment.

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