Protesters say outrage over pork not enough

MANILA, Philippines–Outrage over the pork barrel is not enough. Filipinos must turn out and sign up for a people’s initiative for the enactment of a law that would abolish once and for all that source of political patronage and official corruption.

That was the message from the organizers of the protest against the pork barrel held at Rizal Park in Manila on Monday.

It was National Heroes’ Day and the message was intended to encourage all Filipinos to take up the initiative to abolish the pork barrel because the government and Congress would not despite a Supreme Court ruling last year that the system was unconstitutional.

Thousands of protesters including activists and clergy gathered at the park to denounce the pork barrel, which they blamed for the deepening poverty in the country.

They also launched a campaign to gather 6 million signatures to support a people’s initiative bill that would abolish the pork barrel.

That target represents 10 percent of the total number of registered voters, including 3 percent of all voters in each congressional district, as required under the initiative and referendum law.

For insurance, however, sponsors of the campaign said they would gather 10 million signatures, as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) could question and throw out millions of suspect signatures.

Pork barrel allocations were supposed to pay for development projects in congressional districts, but P10 billion was allegedly siphoned off the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) into the pockets of legislators in connivance with businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles over a period of 10 years.

Inquirer exposé

The pork barrel scam was exposed by the Inquirer last year, leading to plunder and graft charges being filed against Napoles and Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla, their senior staff and dozens of former and current department officials.

But the pork barrel, despite the Supreme Court’s declaration last year that the PDAF was unconstitutional, remains, with P20.7 billion being retained in the 2014 budget and billions suspected to be inserted into the P2.6-trillion budget for 2015.

Reports of the continued existence of the pork barrel sparked the public outrage that led to Monday’s protest at Rizal Park.

Smaller crowd

Organizers said almost 20,000 people joined the protest, but observers said the crowd was much smaller, with police putting it at about 5,000 at its peak.

The crowd, which included nuns, priests and lawyers, was significantly smaller than a similar protest held at the park a year ago that attracted 80,000 to 100,000 people.

Monday’s ralliers came from various schools including the University of the Philippines and University of Santo Tomas, the Catholic Church, Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Concerned Citizens Movement, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Gabriela, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and a group of taxi drivers.

Some beauty queens were also seen in the crowd. Maria Isabel Lopez and Azenith Briones joined the protest and signed the people’s initiative bill.

“We are taxpayers, and it’s hard to know where our taxes go. President Aquino should prove what he says that if no [official] is corrupt, there are no poor people,” Lopez said.

“Let us wake up. If we remain blind and deaf to the times, nothing will happen to the Philippines. The poor will become poorer. We should oppose the pork barrel and the corruption attached to it because it’s only [the politicians] who benefit from it,” Briones said.

By noon, about 5,000 people had signed up for the people’s initiative, and organizers said the drive for more signatures would continue.

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said the rally was “generally peaceful.”

Public fatigue

Monet Silvestre, spokesman for the Abolish Pork Movement, said the smaller crowd could be seen as the Aquino administration’s victory in instilling fatigue in the people.

“Instead of doing good for the country, it’s easier for them and more beneficial for them to come up left and right with new issues,” he said. “They played around with [constitutional amendments] and term extensions and when the public did not bite, they’re saying it was just a joke.”

Silvestre said a law specifically prohibiting lump-sum appropriations would be useful to defeating government budgeting strategies aimed at going around the Supreme Court’s decision against the pork barrel.

Silvestre said the proposed law would criminalize programs like the PDAF and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) and their clones known by other names.

“It’s handcuffs for officials so they cannot maneuver,” Silvestre told the Inquirer.

He also said it was unprecedented, as “it’s the first people’s initiative to prohibit and criminalize a system that has been here for the longest time.”

People’s initiative bill

The people’s initiative bill not only defines and bans pork barrel and lump-sum appropriations in the budget but also prohibits the impoundment of funds by retention, reduction, deferral, suspension of release or any other method, unless there is an official declaration of an unmanageable budget deficit.

The bill would prohibit the insertion of provisions allowing any postbudget intervention by members of Congress in the implementation of programs, as well as the participation of lawmakers in the implementation. It would also disallow the realignment of improperly declared savings.

Those who would violate the law would be jailed for six to 10 years.

Integrated Bar of the Philippines National president Vicente Joyas said the people’s initiative bill would also serve a purpose other than what was served by the Supreme Court ruling against the PDAF.

Joyas said the court’s PDAF ruling outlawed the system of implementation of the pork barrel funds, in which lawmakers had been able to interfere.

“But here [in the people’s initiative], it’s the [root] that is sought to be removed,” he said.

In a statement, the bar said it regarded as an “assault to our elementary sense of order” the alleged bullying of the Aquino administration of Supreme Court justices, threats to impeach them and the congressional investigation into the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF).

SC ruling not enough

Former Rep. Teddy Casiño said the Supreme Court ruling against the PDAF was not enough to stop the pork barrel because Congress had other practices not covered by the decision.

He said many lump-sum funds remained accessible to lawmakers even after the decision was handed down.

Casiño said the redefinition of savings and the addition of special provisions, which made the DAP possible, was another such practice.

“To nail down the positive aspect of the Supreme Court decision, we feel it has to be codified into law,” he said.

Renato Reyes of Bayan warned that without a law, every administration would find new ways to justify lump-sum appropriations, forced savings, and discretionary funds because for the President, currying favor with Congress required pork.

Reyes said the administration was more likely to ensure there were discretionary funds in the 2015 budget because next year would be the start of preparations for the 2016 elections.

Church leaders lent strong support to the protest and signature campaign.

Support from Tagle

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle was unable to attend, but he sent a message of support where he prayed for a culture of integrity for the country.

“I pray that God may bless our efforts to develop a culture of integrity and loving service in our families, neighborhoods, schools, offices, businesses, military, government, churches and consciences,” Tagle said in his message.

He also thanked the protesters for “making democracy alive and active,” and for “advancing decency in public life.”

Bishop Teodoro Bacani provided the harshest criticism of President Aquino in his speech to the crowd.

He asked the protesters whether they believed the claim of the Aquino administration that there was no more pork barrel, and said the answer of the people was a resounding no.

Bacani said he noticed that people who had been elevated to power had become delusional and deaf.

“The Greek said those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. Now, they don’t just become delusional, they also become deaf,” he said.

The “proof,” he said, is the fact that the people, whom the President calls his bosses, are demanding an end to the pork barrel system, but they are not heard.

“That’s what I’m talking about. Power can make you deaf,” he said.

Second term

Bacani also attacked the President’s new openness to a second term. He criticized claims that there is a clamor for Aquino to run for a second term through constitutional amendment when there is no such call from the people.

“In short, they are hearing things that are not being said. If you are experiencing this, what are you? Delusional, is that right?” he said.

He noted that Aquino used to believe in a single term for President, learning from the lesson from his mother, the late President Cory Aquino, that it would be dangerous to extend the presidential term because the chief executive may not step down at all.

“Does P-Noy want to be like Marcos?” he asked the crowd, using President Aquino’s nickname.

He said he did not want a return to the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, which lasted for two decades.–With reports from Nathaniel R. Melican, Jerome Aning, Kristine Felisse Mangunay, Djan Arell Magbanua and AFP

 

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