5,000 join anti-pork march in Cebu City

CEBU CITY, Philippines — At least 5,000 joined a prayer-rally to press for the abolition of pork barrel system in the handling of government funds, and the resignation of all officials involved in the scam.

Although the number was barely half of the projected 30,000 attendees, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma remained hopeful that future prayer-rallies would touch the hearts and minds of people involved in the scam.

In a recorded message aired during the rally, Palma, the outgoing chairman of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said he hoped that “something wonderful can happen that hearts would be touched and minds would find openness” because “we lift our prayers to the good Lord we call Father.”

“We will definitely discern and be able to recommend solutions even as we study the dynamics of executive, legislative and judicial branches of our government, so that the hard-earned money that we gave through taxes may be truly spent for the welfare of community”, he added.

Palma was not able to attend the rally because he had a previous engagement although he had encouraged the priests and the lay to attend.

At least 5,000 people from the academe, religious sector, business and civil society groups, converged at the Fuente Osmeña at 1:30 p.m. before marching down to Plaza Independencia in downtown Cebu City.

At 3 p.m., a concelebrated Mass by more than 50 priests was held at the Plaza Independencia. Msgr. Cayetano Gelbolingo presided the Eucharistic Celebration but Fr. Carmelo Diola of Dilaab Foundation gave the homily.

After the concelebrated Mass, a program followed where representatives from different sectors and religious organizations took turns in speaking. The event ended at 6 p.m.

Representatives from different religious dominations led prayers for good governance.

Some politicians were spotted in the rally –among them Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama and defeated Cebu City south district congressional bet Aristotle Batuhan – but they were not allowed to speak by the organizers to avoid the event to be politicized.

Rallyists were also encouraged to sign the Unity Statement issued by the Cebu Coalition Against the Pork Barrel System which organized the rally.

The statement had been circulated in the different schools, organizations and parishes. Organizers planned to send copies of the signed statement to Malacanang, Senate and the House of Representatives.

One of the demands was the resignation of officials charged with plunder by the Department of Justice before the Office of Ombudsman for their involvement in the P10-billion pork barrel scam allegedly masterminded by Janet Lim-Napoles.

“As the SOVEREIGN PEOPLE, we, the REAL BOSSES are UNITED in ORDERING our PUBLIC SERVANTS to do the following: Immediate resignation of public servants who are formally charged by the Department of Justice….”

The statement didn’t identify the officials although three senators were among those charged with plunder in connection with the pork barrel scam.

They were Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr.

The Unity Statement also called for the punishment of those found guilty in the pork scam and the return of the public funds that were squandered.

It also called for abolition of the pork barrel system by whatever name or form under the three branches of the government; respect for and protection of the people’s sovereign right to reclaim management of public funds for the benefit of the common good such as social services as a way to eliminate patronage politics; and providing the people with all the information they need in the interest of transparency, accountability, participation and co-responsibility.

In his homily, Father Diola criticized how the government misused the P10 billion in people’s money.

He pointed out that the P10 billion lost to bogus nongovernment organizations could have been used to finance the elementary education of about 150,000 street children.

Diola said people from different sectors joined the rally because “something very wrong is happening in our country, threatening the very soul of our nation. The stakes are high indeed. To be silent and do nothing is to condone the wrongs.”