INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Aiming to “hit two birds with one stone,” religious groups hold an interfaith rally Wednesday calling for peace in Mindanao and the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or “pork barrel” system.
Dubbed “Giyera Laban sa Baboy, Hindi Sa Kapwa Pinoy,” the rally at the Quezon City Memorial Circle is advocating “solidarity and peace” between Christians and Muslims amid the pork scam and the ongoing standoff in Zamboanga City.
The clash between government troops and members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) have left over a hundred people killed in Mindanao.
The rally stems from a public clamor to scrap the pork barrel of lawmakers and President Benigno Aquino III himself and organizers said this was “urgent and necessary”.
“The past weeks have caused a great concern over a series of calamities that afflicted our nation — both natural and man-made. The need to gather people of faith to pray for peace and truth presses itself with greater urgency,” said the statement released by the organizers.
The organizers are composed of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), the National Ullama Council of the Philippines (NUCP), and the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) with the assistance of Sulong Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), a citizens’ network promoting peace in areas affected by armed conflicts.
Participating Muslim, Ecumenical, Evangelical and Catholic groups will lead 10-minute messages of peace and interfaith prayers to be sealed by a “solidarity ritual” for its closing.
They believe that continuous rallies will help sustain public attention to their demand for “just and transparent expose” in light of the pork barrel scam.
The PDAF scam, allegedly masterminded by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles had resulted in number of protests — from the “Million People March,” “Edsa Tayo,” and “Rock and Rage Against Pork!”
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