Can the abusive hear our people’s angry song?

Did our Filipino people fully understand what the various January 31 indignation rallies were all about? Did the abusive/corrupt in government hear the people’s angry song/konsyerto?

Despite seeming differences among different rallying groups about what issues and proposed solutions to take or highlight, one common theme which the groups should have prioritized in one, loud, united voice is the glaring reality of widespread/deepening poverty of millions of Filipinos.

The latest January survey results released by the Social Weather Station (SWS) showed 63% of Filipinos rating themselves poor, the highest recorded since the 64% in November 2003.

Conducted from December 12 to 18, 2024, the SWS survey showed that “Filipino families who consider themselves poor continued to increase in the fourth quarter of 2024, with half of them rating themselves food-poor, or unable to afford or access food that make up a healthy diet.”

The rallies should have focused on, should have been dedicated to our millions of struggling poor Filipinos. The rallies should have clearly explained to these poor Filipinos that their deepening/widespread poverty is linked closely to the increasing enrichment of the abusive/corrupt in government, through the budget.

Reine Juvierre Alberto of Business Mirror presented the following highlights of a presentation of Ms. Zyza Nadine Suzara, executive director of the Institute for Leadership, Empowerment and Democracy who described the ?6.326-trillion budget of 2025 as the “most corrupt/ excessively greedy” budget so far.

In an online discussion by Freedom from Debt Coalition last Wednesday, Suzara explained that “the Marcos Jr. administration has allocated nearly one-fifth of the national budget for pork barrel in the past three years with 17.4 percent of the ?11.937-trillion 2023-2025 programmed appropriations as pork or soft projects.”

According to her, “there is now a trend of deprioritizing strategic programs /projects, placing them in the unprogrammed appropriations (UAs) to free up the fiscal space and put their pork there.”

Suzara explained that “UAs are used/bloated by Congress to conceal the real magnitude of pork.”

Suzara shared the following data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) – 1.) The approved UAs more than doubled to ?251.639 billion from the proposed ?151.639 billion in 2022; 2.) This climbed to ?807.162 billion from ?588.162 billion in 2023; in 2024, Congress bloated the UAs to ?731.448 billion, 159.46% higher than the ?281.908 billion initially proposed; and, 3.) In 2025, only ?159 billion was proposed under UA, but ?532 billion was set aside further.

In the last three years, “?296 billion was slashed from the Department of Transportation which placed big-ticket projects under UAs, such as the MRT Line 4 Project/Davao Public Transport Modernization Project/North-South Commuter Railway System.

“The Special Purpose Funds were also targeted, cutting P567 billion of the fund in three years and moving to UAs the Pension/Gratuity Fund, Revised AFP Modernization Program, Universal Access to Tertiary Education, among others.

“With the freed-up fiscal space, P675 billion worth of flood control projects, P1.3 trillion for local roads/bridges/multi-purpose halls in the past three years were channeled to hard projects as pork for electoral favor and personal gain.”

The “de-prioritization of regular programs caused the excessive allocation of funds to soft projects or “ayuda,” such as the Ayuda to Kapos ang Kita (Akap), Medical Assistance to Indigent Patients (MAIP) and Tulong Pang-hanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (Tupad).”

When ?10 billion of alleged misuse of PDAF was revealed, angry Filipinos took to the streets on the 26th of August, 2013.

Now with trillions of pesos for pork concealed within the UAs, time for Filipinos to show their indignation versus the excessively abusive/corrupt 2025 budget.

All should also join hands and unite to have the Supreme Court declare the 2025 budget unconstitutional.

Let the abusive/corrupt hear the people sing a song of angry Filipinos!