Over 10,000 INQUIRER.net readers favor ‘pork’ abolition

MANILA, Philippines—An overwhelming number of INQUIRER.net readers favor the abolition of the graft-tainted “pork barrel.”

In a running informal survey as of 3:40 p.m. Thursday, 10,054 out of 10,478 readers of readers, or 96 percent, who cast their vote answered “Yes” to the question: “Do you agree with the proposal to abolish the pork barrel?”

Only 318 or three percent answered “No,” while 106 or one percent said, “I don’t care.”

The poll was started on August 7.

A series of exposé by the Philippine Daily Inquirer revealed a tangled  web of corruption, with Janet Lim-Napoles as the alleged brains behind a P10-billion scheme that channeled funds over the past 10 years from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and other state agencies into kickbacks of up to 60 percent using bogus nongovernment organizations.

Even the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has joined the call of various sectors to scrap the pork barrel.

Enraged netizens are organizing a simultaneous nationwide protest on Monday to demand its abolition.

As of posting time, the Facebook event “Million People March to Luneta” has 10,772 attendees.

Cast your vote now.