Antipork groups set Halloween protests

For Halloween, antipork advocates prefer scary costumes, but a Catholic priest favors only the most beautiful and inspiring masks and costumes.

Activists said they would try scare tactics against those supporting the pork barrel after the nationwide campaign against it failed to deter the House of Representatives from pushing for a national budget that still contained allocations for pet projects of legislators.

On Wednesday, antipork advocates in Davao City will hold what was dubbed a “Halloween protest against the pork barrel system and the equally questionable Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).”

In a statement sent to the Inquirer, the Abolish Pork Movement said the protest that would start at 4:30 p.m. on San Pedro Street here—near City Hall—was aimed at “scar(ing) away all pork lovers out of the government.”

The House earlier approved the P2.268-trillion 2014 national budget, which, militant lawmakers described as still pork-laden.

The scary costumes may well be suited for the protesters, but not for children if Fr. Francis Lucas had his way.

Lucas, executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Social Communications and Mass Media, encouraged Filipinos to veer away from the “Westernized” form of observing All Hallow’s Eve, usually marked by costume parties and trick-or-treat.

Positive images

“Why don’t we give the children positive images… It’s more challenging to create beautiful than gory and threatening masks and costumes,” Lucas said at a Church forum on Tuesday.

He suggested that instead of trying to outdo each other with the most ugly-looking costumes, Filipinos who want to celebrate the occasion could dress up in their prettiest attires and play well-meaning games.

“It’s more exciting because it’s more challenging,” said

Lucas.

“When you put on scary masks… it’s like you are seducing diablo. You are welcoming the negative into your consciousness,” he said.

The priest said it was important that children not be exposed to this kind of celebration of Halloween to avoid introducing the bad and evil into their sensibilities. “Let them wear what is beautiful because the soul continues to look for beauty and the truth.”

The Catholic Church frowns on Westernized Halloween practices as people dress up in gruesome images of ghosts, witches and demons, matching their attires with glowing red horns and pitchforks.

Inspiring window displays

Lucas also encouraged commercial establishments, especially the malls, to come up with more inspiring and positive window displays. “Filipinos are very creative… so let’s push for the idea of blessedness during the occasion.”

He also urged the media to help in changing the notion of Halloween among Filipinos. “The media is very powerful… Let us bring back the good, the true and the beautiful which is God, the image of Jesus Christ [during this occasion],” he added.

Halloween is a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Even (“evening”), that is, the night before All Hallows Day, or the Mass day of all saints.

Instituted by Pope Gregory III on Nov. 1, All Saints’ Day, also known as the “Feast of all Martyrs,” is a day of remembering and honoring the holy ones the Church has identified as worth emulating.

Dress up as saints

A religious group, the Prayer Warriors of the Holy Souls, has been helping the Catholic Church push for a more “Christ-centered” alternative to the modern celebration of Halloween by urging various dioceses across the country to adopt the “March of Saints.”

It is an event in which children and young adults in parishes will dress up as saints and martyrs venerated by the Catholic Church during Halloween.

In pushing for this annual religious activity, the group said Filipinos needed to start their own tradition in celebrating Halloween as its observance today seemed to “glamorize evil, the occult, superstitions and pagan beliefs that are incompatible with the Christian faith.”

Even before the Halloween protest, the public has registered its outrage over the misuse of government’s lump-sum funds, following Inquirer reports about the P10-billion pork barrel scam in which lawmakers pocketed 50 percent of the supposed cost of projects funded by their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

The scam was allegedly masterminded by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, who received 40 percent of the project costs. The remaining percent went to government conduits, according to whistle-blowers.

Amid the public outrage, the P25 billion that Malacañang earlier allocated for the PDAF of lawmakers was realigned to six agencies—the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Education, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Commission on Higher Education (CHEd).

A provision on the apportioning of the PDAF to these agencies specified that lawmakers can decide on which program or projects it should be spent on. Each member of the House can propose up to five infrastructure projects.

“True, we may have lost this battle on the floor but the war against the pork barrel system is not yet over! In fact, far from being over!” Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said in a statement e-mailed to the Inquirer.

Abad explanation

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad acknowledged during last week’s Senate hearing on the national budget that each lawmaker was indeed allowed to identify P24.5 million each in local infrastructure projects under the DPWH budget.

He also said PDAF was not deducted from the national budget but was realigned to scholarships under certain state colleges and universities and the CHEd; employment program as being implemented by the DOLE and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority; health programs under the DOH and government hospitals; assistance program under the DSWD and the DPWH’s infrastructure program.

But Abad said that nongovernment organizations had been barred from implementing these programs and projects and that the agencies would ensure that each expenditure was properly accounted for.

Zarate said the realignment of the PDAF to other agencies did not free the national budget of pork allocations.

Righteous outrage

He said the loss suffered by antipork advocates in the House had not discouraged him and other lawmakers from hoping that the controversial fund, which is now being investigated for being the source of “massive corruption and plunder committed by persons in power, both in and out of government, will eventually be stricken off the budget.”

He said “the righteous public outrage generated by the sheer magnitude of the plunder perpetrated (under) this billion-peso pork barrel scam will provide the momentum needed to move the issue forward.”

“The fight for the abolition, for the smashing of the pork barrel system continues,” Zarate added.—With a report from Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao