In a compelling opinion piece, columnist Reni M. Valenzuela draws a direct parallel between the health dangers of consuming pork and the political and moral perils of 'pork barrel' funds embedded in the country's national budget. Published on January 9, 2026, his critique extends from a personal, decades-old revelation to a sharp analysis of the freshly signed 2026 government spending plan.
A Personal Revelation: Worms That Do Not Die
Valenzuela roots his argument in a profound personal experience from the early 1980s. As a young reborn Christian, he visited a health center at the YMCA in Manila. There, he and others were shown well-cooked, even overcooked, pork chops under microscopes. To his shock, he personally witnessed live worms, still moving, within the meat. This sight, which he describes with the Filipino terms "nandiri at nangilabot," led him to largely avoid pork from that day forward.
He connects this to a biblical reference from Mark 9:47-48, which describes hell as a place where "their worm dieth not." For him, this symbolizes the enduring and corrupting nature of pork, both as food and as a political tool. He credits this abstinence as his "secret" for looking younger than his age, though he admits to a yearly exception during Christmas Noche Buena for ham, sausage, and bacon.
The National Budget: A Different Kind of Pork
Valenzuela swiftly pivots from the dietary to the fiscal, linking his story to the recent political news. He notes that President Bongbong Marcos has signed the 2026 national budget, which he characterizes as "bloated, (still) heavily pork-ridden and cholesterol-filled." He highlights that a staggering P633 billion remains as controversial "pork"—funds he suggests are vulnerable to corruption and waste.
While he acknowledges the President's veto of nearly P92.5 billion in unprogrammed funds, Valenzuela is unimpressed. He uses a culinary metaphor to argue that the problem persists: "They may grind the meat, but it is still pork -- giniling na baboy. Pork is pork whether it is chunk or ground, soft or hard, naked or shadowy, cooked or fresh, vetoed or not."
Questioning the NTF-Elcac and Legacy Programs
The columnist then trains his focus on a specific budget item: the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac). He questions why it continues to receive a "huge, weird budget" despite having, in his view, outlived its purpose. He bluntly labels its funding as "pork," describing it as "marumi" (dirty) and "mauuod" (worm-infested).
Valenzuela places the NTF-Elcac within what he sees as the problematic legacy of the Duterte administration, grouping it with the "bogus bloody drug war" and the "anti-terror" law. He asserts that their chief aim is to "red tag, harass, persecute, jail and kill activists, critics, journalists... in order for them to be given more and bigger budget -- to pocket?" He argues that the local communist insurgency was largely solved before these measures and that their continued existence serves only to perpetuate their own funding.
In conclusion, Valenzuela makes a direct appeal to President Marcos: "Call it NTF-Elcac or any other name, dear BBM, but in the eyes of truth -- it is 'pork,' plain, pure and simple." His piece stands as a stark critique linking personal health choices to the integrity of national governance.
