Dumagueteños unite in call for abolition of pork barrel

DUMAGUETE CITY — President Benigno Aquino III may had finally agreed yesterday to abolish the congressional “pork barrel,” but the planned nationwide protest on Monday against the PDAF scam will continue, particularly in this city and parts of Negros Oriental province.

Scores of people from this city and other parts of Negros Oriental have committed to “rising up in arms” to express their outrage against the “pork barrel” scandal besieging the country today.

The activity, set at 9 a.m. on Monday at the city's Rizal Boulevard, will be staged in line with the national call for the scrapping of the pork barrel given to legislators in both houses of Congress. The event will fall on the same day the country celebrates National Heroes' Day.

Angry taxpayers from Negros Oriental and Dumaguete will be joining hands with the rest of the country in pressuring President Aquino to abolish pork barrel, which got into scandalous proportion involving legislators and certain personalities who were found to have been siphoning billions of this funds into bogus non-government organizations.

Constituents in this part of the country have also sought for the filing of cases in court against the lawmakers involved in the pork barrel scam. “Galit din kami dito sa Dumaguete,” a poster posted on Facebook said.

The call to join the nationwide protest, which started Saturday, had targeted to draw in at least one million marchers to the Luneta Park in Manila to protest the pork barrel scandal that has sparked angry reactions from other areas in the Philippines.

People in this capital city of Negros Oriental have been enjoined to wear white on Monday, but were cautioned against bearing placards or carrying the names of political groups and civil organizations.

“It's not a rally. It's our physical manifestation of solidarity with the entire country on our disgust over the pork barrel scandal, and the call to abolish it totally,” the poster on FB described the coming activity in Dumaguete.

“Walang personalan, walang partisan, galit lang sa kawatan”, the poster, with an image of a clenched fist, read. It further reads: “If you were contented and happy on how things are, you may not join us. We would understand why. Really….”

The national solidarity “Get Together” in Dumaguete City will be held at the “I Love Dumaguete” signage at Rizal Boulevard. It is expected to attract a huge crowd not only because Monday is a holiday but the city's population has bloated with the 112th Founders' Day and the International Tipon 2013 celebration of Silliman University with hundreds of alumni gathered here.

While the activity was “loosely” organized with no specific group backing it, the SU Student Government's Committee on Students' Rights and Welfare and some media members have been actively promoting it.

Already, scores of people have reposted the anti-pork barrel poster on Facebook while many other groups have signified their intent to attend the gathering but on an individual basis as taxpayers demanding for the abolition of the pork barrel.  (FREEMAN)