In Negros Occidental, protesters demand: Abolish "pork," abolish Congress

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — The 'pork barrel' should be totally abolished, and the graft-ridden Congress should be temporarily abolished even for just six years. This were the demand of thousands of Negrense protesters during the anti-pork rally at the city public plaza last Monday.

"Without Congress, we will progress," election lawyer Romulo Macalintal yelled in the rally, earning louder roars from at least 5,000 marchers composed of students, teachers, workers, militant groups, and Catholic faithful who braved the strong rains while marching from three different locations at 1 p.m. and converging at the plaza.

The march-rally, which mainly called for the total abolition of the PDAF or pork barrel and lambasted lawmakers involved in the alleged P10-billion pork scam, was spearheaded by the three dioceses in Negros Occidental: Diocese of  Bacolod City, Diocese of San Sarlos City and Diocese of Kabankalan City.

Macalintal, one of the speakers at the rally, said the call to temporarily abolish Congress is an uphill climb but he believed in miracle.

With the temporary abolition of Congress for six years, the country would be able to save P211 billion and that could be used to buy 70 billion kilos of rice for the Filipinos, could build 180,000 public schools and could be used for the construction of hundreds of kilometers of roads, Macalintal said.

"Many of us thought that the Philippines is a poor nation but, with the discovery of the PDAF scam, our country is actually wealthy, only, our money goes to the pockets of some people," he said, as he slammed the Aquino administration for using pork barrel in bribing lawmakers into passing the Reproductive Health Law and impeaching former Chief Justice Renato Corona.

For his part, Auxiliary Bishop of Manila, Broderick Pabillo, national director of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines-National Secretariat for Social Action, said the pork barrel leads to different evils like political dynasties. "We want to show our opposition against pork barrel because if we don't do this, politicians will not know our sentiments," he said.

"The Church is not meddling in the political issues of the state but is just concerned with good governance since the money, supposedly intended for the poor, has landed in the pockets of several individuals," Pabillo said, adding that President Benigno Aquino III should also give up his pork barrel to serve as a role model to the Filipinos.

The rally participants marched going to the plaza in the afternoon from the Capitol Lagoon Park, Lupit Church and West Negros University. The protest-rally was dubbed "Magnificat March: For the Protection of Human Life, Promotion of Good Governance and Total Abolition of Pork Barrel."

Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra said the people and church should speak out against the pork barrel scandal as this robbed them of government assistance. "It is the time to join hands to call for the abolition of the pork barrel," he said.

In a circular letter addressed to the Christian faithful of the Diocese of Bacolod, Navarra said: "The glaring reason for so many social ills that beset our country today is the deeply imbedded culture of corruption. This is the bitter fruit of our collective indifference and permissiveness."

The controversial pork barrel system is proven to have been a "breeding ground" of corruption and patronage politics, he said. It is the duty of Christians to speak out against corruption. "Such innate goodness of our humanity sanctions our rightful indignation against anything that is dishonest, deceitful, untruthful and evil," he added. (FREEMAN)