Anti-pork rally held in Laoag, again

Laoag Bishop Renato Mayugba: Scrap the pork barrel system

Photos by Romelyn Tutaan and Lei Adriano

By Leilanie G. Adriano

Staff Reporter

The outrage over the misuse of pork barrel continues to mount as another rally against it was staged on September 28.

That time, the rally was organized by religious leaders from the Roman Catholic Church, Iglesia Filipina Independiente and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.

Who’s the boss?

“Who is your boss?” asked a farmer-leader Rogelio dela Cruz as he left his farm and animals on the afternoon of September 28 so he can attend a prayer rally and express his disgust on political leaders he constantly see on television involved in the pork barrel scam.

“If you say we are your boss, then why are we suffering?” he continued referring to elected officials whose campaign propaganda during elections is always “to serve the poor and needy” but based on what he sees and hears over radio and television, “These greedy government officials are taking advantage of the poor by abusing their power to advance their self-vested interest.”

Joining more than a hundred farmer-leaders, students, women activists, church workers, priests and bishops from the Roman Catholic Church, Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, a student, John Paul Peralta from the Divine Word College of Laoag said he could hardly believe what he is constantly reading on newspapers and social media about billions of pesos being pocketed by abusive politicians and their cohorts through their pork barrel allotment.

Churches unite

Proving that Christian churches can set aside doctrinal and other differences and work together to fight social evils, UCCP Rev. Sadire Gumpad aired their support for the abolition of pork barrel from the president down to the barangays.

“We paid a significant amount through our taxes to uplift the nation and to help in poverty alleviation. Sadly, our political leaders have proven themselves no better than Judas. Their pronouncement of the needs of the poor was merely a façade for their own thievery and abuse of power. The nation has been betrayed by those stealing from the common purse and we denounce that the poor who continue to endure hunger, demolition, unemployment and underemployment have been abused by such plunder,” Gumpad told the faithful at the ecumenical union to abolish pork barrel held in front of the Lourdes Grotto of the St. William the Hermit Cathedral in Laoag City.

The bishops of the IFI also participated in prayer rally calling on President Aquino “to recover the trust of the people through persistent effort to prosecute and punish plunders regardless of who they are. However for justice and for peace to dwell in our land, investigation and prosecution must go beyond Napoles, government officials and other politicians’ link to her.”

The IFI also prayed for the investigation of the Department of Agriculture for allowing bogus NGOs get accreditation, the Department of Finance for tolerating systematic corruption over the years and for the Commission on Audit to answer why it is only now that they have come up with published audit reports including a thorough investigation on the reported connections of the pork barrel scam operation to the Office of the President.

“President Aquino must also account himself to the people over the nature and control of the presidential pork barrel that reaps a huge amount of money,” said the IFI in a public statement both signed by Bishop Vic Exclamado, Chairperson of the Supreme Council of Bishops and Supreme Bishop Ephraim Fajutagana.

In closing, Bishop Renato Mayugba of the Diocese of Laoag said the nationwide call to scrap the pork barrel is not only in the “point of view of the faithful but also for the love of our country.”

“It’s not enough that we register our position to pork barrel but more of what we can do. When we look at the pork barrel system, it’s just one of the symptoms of a sick state of affairs in the country. We don’t like being cheated but we have to admit, we have sinned too. Why they have pork barrel? During election, we sell them our votes and we elect thieves. Beyond looking at the pork barrel, we must also ask ourselves, how have I contributed to the corruption in my country? One aspect of the problem is—we succumbed to patronage politics. This should serve as a wake-up call to all of us. To make an effort to change our political system by saying no to patronage politics and we should be vigilant and unwilling to cooperate with any form of corruption,” Bishop Mayugba told participants as they ended the prayer rally by singing, “Bayan ko”, a patriotic Filipino song that stresses the love of country.