Bayan to launch protest against ‘plunder of public funds’

MANILA, Philippines - The militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) is gearing up for a series of protests against what it decried as “systematic, institutional plunder of public funds” amid continuing allegations of corruption involving pork barrel funds of lawmakers.

Bayan said they would rally on Monday at the House of Representatives “to strongly protest the shameless plunder of public funds.”

“For so long, we have been told that the Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel is necessary to deliver public service. What has happened is that this system has stood as one of the biggest sources of corruption, with public service becoming a mere excuse for plunder,” Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr. said.

“What is appalling is that the poor are again being used to enrich the powerful. As the fertilizer and other similar scams have shown, the poor get nothing but ghost deliveries while millions of pesos are channeled to the bank accounts of the politicians and their private contractors,” he added.

While private contractors should definitely be made accountable, Bayan said the proponents for the retention of the pork barrel system should also be assailed.

The group decried recent statements made by President Aquino seeking to downplay the gravity of the pork barrel scam.

“What he (Aquino) is not saying, however, is that the scams from the time of (former President Gloria Macapagal) Arroyo have persisted even up to the time of Aquino and so far no one has been held accountable. There is continuity and impunity in massive corruption,” Reyes said.

Bayan challenged the ombudsman to make good its pronouncement that it will investigate the PDAF scam.

The ombudsman formed last July 16 a special panel of investigators to look into the allegations of massive corruption in the pork barrel of lawmakers.