‘FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY’
Church leaders, businessmen, students and political leaders hold a rally at the Plaza Indpendencia to stop barrel. (CDN PHOTO/ CHRISTIAN MANINGO)
For Bernard Villalon, walking isn’t as easy as it was two decades ago.
But the 75-year-old theater arts director could not let an opportunity to change the country slip away.
Accompanied by a friend, Villalon flew from Manila to Cebu to join yesterday’s sign-up drive for the People’s Initiative against the pork barrel system.
Carrying a black bag and wearing a pair of slippers, Villalon joined thousands who gathered at the Plaza Independencia in the afternoon.
“Sa tagal ko na dito sa mundo, pasama nang pasama na ang kundisyon ng ating bayan dahil sa sistemang pang-gobyerno. Ang buwis ng mamamayang Pilipino ay ginagawa lang gatasan ng mga nakaupo sa gobyerno. Dapat lang palitan ang sistemang ito,” said Villalon who directs stage plays for out-of-school youth.
(In all my years of life on this earth, the country’s condition has gone from bad to worse due to how the government has been run. Our taxes are being stolen by those in government. It’s just proper to change this system.”
In the morning , they held a People’s Congress at the Mariner’s Court seeking to abolish the pork barrel system.
The national initiative was led by the Cebu Coalition Against the Pork Barrel System, which has about 80 organizations from interfaith, academic, business and civil society groups.
A bigger signature campaign will be held at the Rizal Park or the Luneta in Manila tomorrow, the first anniversary of the Million People March.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma thanked the participants for coming to Cebu City for the historic launch.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma signs a petition to enact into law the Pork Barrel Abolition Act during a launch rally at the Plaza Indpendencia. (CDN PHOTO/ CHRISTIAN MANINGO)
“It’s not a joy ride to come over. Seeing the number of people who gathered here fills me with joy for it is a sign that our people have become more mature or at least are trying to be mature,” the 63-year-old prelate said.
“We just started the ball rolling in Cebu. But I know there will be many more activities like this nationwide. We do all this for the love of our country. Tama na ang pork barrel system na yan. Sobra na. (Let us put an end to that pork barrel system. It’s too much already),” he added.
“We want to put the final nail on the coffin on this pork barrel system. Before the people’s response to irregularities was ‘ganun na talaga yun,’ ‘ano pa magagawa natin?’ But now we have seen what is good,” Palma said.
Although the Supreme Court had already declared the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) unconstitutional, anti-pork barrel advocates believe legislators still have access to discretionary lump sum funds through many disguised forms.
The People’s Initiative aims to collect up to six million signatures to press for the amendment of the 1987 Constitution and pass a law that does away with the pork barrel system in the national budget.
The petition must be signed by at least 10 percent of all registered voters in the country and at least three percent in each congressional district.
“We are bound today, in the eyes of our aspirations, to abolish the pork barrel system. We have diversity in our beliefs, traditions, commitments, and affiliations. But our diversity is our strength and hope in this journey,” said Mark Canton of the Cebu Coalition.
“We are called to ratify the disturbing pork barrel system once and for all. We will see today how we have come together and how we have to remain focused while trying to achieve our objectives. We will see today and we will then conquer,” he added.
The petition, once verified by the Commission on Elections, will undergo a referendum on the Pork Barrel Abolition Act.
No Cebuano legislator was seen during the day-long activity yesterday.
Only Bayan Muna party-list Representatives Carlos Zarate and Neri Colmenares took part in the People’s Congress.
Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle sent a message of support.
“Thank you for making democracy alive and active. Thank you for advancing decency in public life. Thank you for giving voice to the countless victims of corruption, especially the poor and the marginalized,” he said in a statement read by Cebuano priest Fr. Carmelo Diola of Dilaab.
Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo encouraged all Filipinos to support the campaign.
“The pork barrel system has been a bottomless pit of corruption, a terrible instrument of patronage politics, a war chest to perpetuate patronage politics,” he said in a statement also read by Fr. Diola.
Ustadz Najeeb Razul of the Muslim Community in Central Visayas said yesterday’s People’s Congress is “not a simple gathering but a gathering for change.”
“Filipinos want a change. We want to eradicate corruption in our country.. Our campaign doesn’t end in this congress. There’s much work to be done. But we know that God will not change the condition of the people unless the people change themselves,” Razul said.
Whistle-blower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada said scrapping the pork barrel was an uphill climb but can be done.
“I feel the helplessness of ordinary citizens. But they can really do something about it now. It just takes them to come and sign the petition to abolish the pork barrel system. It’s not the success but the journey which matters. Hopefully, with the convergence of various sectors, we can deliver,” Lozada said.
Also present during the People’s Congress yesterday are former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, Bishops Antonio Rañola, Bishop Ireneo Amantillo; Dante Jimenez of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC); political activist and entertainer Mae Paner, also known as Juana Change; and actress Monique Wilson.
During the People’s Congress held at the Mariner’s Court, all participants read the “Declaration of Unity of the People’s Congress.”
The declaration called for the abolition of the congressional pork barrel as well as the “hundreds of billions of lump sum discretionary funds otherwise known as the presidential pork barrel” which Malacañang’s 2015 National Expenditure Program retains.
“The pork barrel system remains intact in the national budget and entrenched in the political system. Our elected officials have not only failed to promote the people’s interests; they have betrayed public trust by perpetuating the pork barrel system,” the declaration read.
“It is time for us, the people, to take matters into our hands and abolish the pork barrel system ourselves. We know we are up against entrenched and well-organized forces currently holding the reins of political power. We are also faced with the lack of resources. But we will persevere and inevitably triumph against all adversity for we know this is the people’s fight,” it added.
Under the proposed Pork Barrel Abolition Act, all proposed budgets submitted to any legislative body shall contain only itemized or line-item appropriations, except for the purpose of relief and rescue operations during calamities, and for the intelligence fund.
Releases from lump sum funds allowed under the act shall be supported with schedules indicating the specific government agency that received them and the specific purposes for the same.
The proposed legislation also calls for the abolition of the Presidential Social Fund. It would also penalize any public officer who authorizes spending public money which is not covered by or is in violation of any appropriation ordinance law.
Violators would face one to 10 years imprisonment and perpetual disqualification from public office.
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