Duterte backs transport strike vs pork barrel

DAVAO CITY—Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has announced his all-out support for the transport strike on Nov. 13 against the continuing theft of public funds through the pork barrel system.

Duterte said he would be very happy if the protest action pushed through.

“I fully support the protest action. P70 billion of misused funds is P70 billion, which is supposed to go to projects,” he told reporters.

Militant transport group Transmission–Piston-Southern Mindanao said it would stage the strike to also denounce prohibitive and excessive penalties on traffic violations set by the Land Transportation Office.

Edil Gonzaga, Transmission-Piston secretary general, said the strike would start midnight on Nov. 13 and would end 24 hours after.

Gonzaga said his group was confident at least 90 percent of the city’s public transport sector would join the strike.

Outrage continues to grow over the systematic theft of taxes through the pork barrel following the refusal of President Aquino to abolish what his critics said is his own pork source, the Disbursement Acceleration Program. Judy Quiros, Inquirer Mindanao