EDITORIAL - Sour note

It was supposed to be a million people march, as what the Luneta protest against the pork barrel boldly called itself. But judging by the turnout, and even throwing in similar protests in key cities nationwide, it was clear the million people target was not met.

But then, did it really matter whether a million turned out or only a hundred? The important thing is that people turned out despite the lack of a central organizing arm to whip up a crowd. That there was a gathering at all that bordered on the spontaneous suggests an unmistakable anger in people. That was enough.

To be sure, there were many in the gathering who turned out for the experience. That happens all the time and to any gathering. In fact, one participant interviewed on TV said she was there to take pictures that she can post on Facebook. Oh well, it takes all kinds.

But by and large the gathering was hugely successful. A clear message had been sent to those concerned that, at the very least, there is a sizeable tide of resentment toward the pork barrel that can only grow and thus cannot be ignored.

That the gathering ever happened should have been, by itself, proof of success. It was therefore absolutely unnecessary to bloat and exaggerate the figures as what sympathetic media outlets and social media websites did. They made it a game of numbers when very clearly it was not.

One social media website, which prides itself as a professional watchdog organization manned by ostensibly highly-respected journalists, posted a number that left everyone breathless in disbelief. It said about 400,000 people attended the gathering.

It is probably all right to exaggerate a bit for effect. But to bloat a number many, many times its actual size not only taxes the credulity of everyone who can see for themselves from TV footages and news photos but also forces second thoughts to creep into the purpose of the gathering itself.

To those who have any idea how to make crowd estimates, it was very clear the gathering could be pegged at a hundred thousand, max. It could not go beyond that number by any stretch of sympathetic imagination. In fact, it could even be less.

But as said at the outset, it was the message that was important, not the number. And yet there are some in both mainstream and social media who departed from their responsibility to tell the truth and bloated the figures beyond their capacity to be believed. That was the sour note in an otherwise successful activity.