Fr. Tito Soquino and other priests join the signing against the the Pork Barrel during the Peoples Initiative rally in Plaza Independencia. (CDN PHOTO/CHRISTIAN MANINGO)
Cebu-based chapters of militant groups joined their counterpart groups across the country in the signature and march rally campaign to abolish the pork barrel held last Saturday at the Plaza Independencia, Cebu City.
Greg Perez, Cebu chapter president of the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston), said they made sure to join last Saturday’s campaign launched in Cebu after they weren’t invited to last year’s rally.
The Cebu campaign came two days ahead of the launching of the signature drive against the pork barrel to mark the one year anniversary of the Million People March in Rizal Park, Manila today.
Civil society groups like the Cebu Coalition Against Pork Barrel closed ranks with national groups like the Church People Alliance and AbolishPork Movement to gather six million signatures for a law to scrap pork barrel funds in the national budget.
These groups will also protest moves to extend President Aquino’s term and amend the Constitution.
Vendetta
“Labi na karon ang mga driver tabanganan pod tungod sa kalisod; tag-as kaayo og pulta, wala og tuo nga dakop mao na ang mga Pilipino nagkahiusa aron nga mawagtang ning sistemaha
(Especially now that our drivers need help due to their hardships. High fines, unbelievable apprehensions that’s why Filipinos have joined together to abolish this system),” Perez said.
Aaron Pedrosa, Cebuano secretary general of the militant group Sanlakas, also criticized President Benigno Aquino III for using the Charter change talk for his own vendetta against the Supreme Court for ruling against the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
“If a sitting President can openly lash out and mobilize a co-equal pillar of government against another for his own self-seeking interests, (this means) he is hell-bent in preserving but also extending this depraved status quo with another six-year term then it is bound to be dictatorship,” he added.
Pedrosa also claimed that President Aquino’s Charter Change plans are tailored after the late president Ferdinand Marcos who in 1972 convened a Constitutional Convention to amend the 1935 Constitution giving him extraordinary powers.
“Aquino readily admitted on record his intention to clip the powers of the Supreme Court out of his frustration to get their nod for his DAP,” Pedrosa said.
Pet projects
Monet Silvestre, spokesperson of the Abolish Pork Movement, said last year’s fire has continued to burn.
“There are many things to be angry about, there are many things to be outraged about,” Silvestre said.
Anti-pork activists also consider the DAP akin to pork barrel, since it was open for discretionary spending and was used for projects not identified in the budget.
Funds pooled through the DAP were also used for lawmakers’ pet projects. /with an Inquirer report
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