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President Aquino and many lawmakers have so far rejected calls to abolish the pork or the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), and instead pushed for reforms on how it is used.

The “Million People March to Luneta” was inspired by a Facebook post from music production manager Ito Rapadas, who said that there must be a million marchers to compel legislators and government officials to put a stop to pocketing pork barrel funds.

“The dominant emotion is anger and outrage,” Rapadas told the Inquirer, explaining why he decided to make the call to action.

People who are paying taxes faithfully could not accept that the money was being misused, he said.

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That same day, several faculty members from the University of the Philippines called for the abolition of the pork barrel fund.
Rapadas’ post was shared by friends on Facebook and it got the attention of Peachy Rallonza-Bretaña.

Bretaña then reposted it and set the Aug. 26 date for the gathering. Rapadas said he did not personally know Bretaña and the other people who set up the Facebook page for the event.
‘Pocket picnic’

In a Facebook post, Bretaña said the event was planned to be a “pocket picnic” and a “colorless” event in Rizal Park where no person would be tagged as the organizer, “because each one of us is the organizer.”

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Bretaña, in her post on the event’s Facebook page, also said the gathering should not be a march or a rally since no one would get a permit for it.

“It should be a gathering of a multitude of our own little groups to show them who their boss is. We are the boss! We have forgotten this and we should lay claim to it,” she said.

Send message

The Aug. 26 event is intended to send the message that the people want the pork barrel scrapped, and that the senators and representatives implicated in the pork barrel scam must be investigated and charged accordingly.

It is also meant to show support for the Ombudsman’s investigation of the anomalies.

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As soon as details of the event were posted on Aug. 17, it quickly made the rounds of Facebook and the micro-blogging site Twitter. After two days, a total of 5,532 users accepted the invitation and said they were “going,” while 872 responded with a “maybe.”

Some 45,044 Facebook users also received the invitation and have yet to respond.

Confirming his attendance, Jerry Salting Udarbe wrote, “If we don’t protest, the corrupt will think that we don’t care if they pocket the taxes that we pay.”

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About time

“When u pay 32% of your income sa taxes at napupunta sa wala isn’t it about time na magwala ka na join the #millionPeopleMarch to Luneta,” tweeted user @cunelva.

“If I were in Manila, I would DEFINITELY go to that pocket picnic at Luneta on 26th of August. Pera ko ang parte sa ninakaw nila!” user @imJanina tweeted.

User @jin_eus asked, “Why just march? Why don’t we all stop paying income taxes until they sort this out and ensure that this won’t happen again?”

“I have never attended any rally back in UP. Kahit sa mga walk-outs. But this one is different,” tweeted user @iansomosa.

Legislators who have called for the pork barrel abolition are supportive of the event and intend to join it.

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“The pork barrel is an issue that transcends everybody,” Colmenares said.

Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza said in a phone interview that he was looking into the Aug. 26 gathering, and if there were no politics behind its organization, he would personally join it.

Atienza, who has vowed not to use the pork barrel, said he had seen how people have become so angry over the pork barrel system. He added that it would be a good move to suspend its implementation now in preparation for its eventual abolition.

He said it was not true that everybody was expecting lawmakers to shell out funds for projects. Only those who were used to getting money from politicians expected anything from them. Those who understood the pork barrel system actually abhorred it, he added.

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Political will

The President needs strong political will to scrap the pork barrel, but he risks exposing daang matuwid (straight path) as a mere slogan if he ignores calls for this, former National Treasurer Leonor Briones said on Sunday.

Briones and political analyst Bobby Tuazon agreed it would be easy for the executive department to tweak the budget and distribute the pork barrel fund to priority projects, through government agencies.

That way, the government would also eliminate political dynasties that survive on pork barrel to perpetuate themselves in power, and usher in a new breed of politicians, he said.

But since the pork barrel fund is intended to ensure the support of lawmakers for the proposed national budget, it’s tough for the President to heed calls to scrap it, Briones said.

“If he (the President) is his mother’s son, and he says the Filipinos are his boss, perhaps he should listen to his bosses. But is he listening to his bosses? We have to look at the records,’’ Briones said in an interview on Sunday.

“All that he needs to do is delete that line—it’s just one line in the budget,” she added. “It’s all about political will.— With a report from Lawrence de Guzman, Inquirer Research

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nalibog bitaw ko, fr chic, why a former man of the cloth of ours who became a politician has become very rich. 

two elections ago, his wife (a former small telephone business operator of the pre-mobile phone era) who ran against the late aumentado for congress was widely quoted as saying, "sige, iphanay mi ug sinako nga kwarta..." or something like that. 

it is common knowledge that since her husband became congressman and her daughters became politicians as well, their material fortunes rose unbelievably.

too bad, politics in our country is still very much corrupt and corrupting. 

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balong: i was there during the EDSA revolution. pag sugod ug uso sa people power. i was one of the marchers. gubot pa sa lokot. stones vs. guns.

islander: who cares

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