People’s initiative vs ‘pork’ on

MANILA, Philippines - Thousands of citizens from various sectors are expected to join rallies in Rizal Park and other parts of the country today to jumpstart a signature campaign for a people’s initiative to abolish the pork barrel system and other schemes in the national budget that allots lump-sum appropriations for lawmakers.

Renato Reyes of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said a protest program and a signature drive would be held at the same time in Rizal Park.

“Groups and personalities who figured in the first ‘Million People March’ last year also helped organize this year’s event. The people’s initiative, a signup campaign to introduce a new law banning the pork barrel system, will be a new component of the Luneta action,” he said.

Apart from Bayan and #abolishpork, Scrap Pork Network, Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, Concerned Citizens Movement, Youth ACT Now, Babae Laban sa Katiwalian, Church People’s Alliance Against Pork Barrel, Nationalist Movement, and various sectoral groups are also mobilizing for the event.

The people’s initiative aims to collect about five to six million signatures nationwide to demand the removal of all discretionary lump sum funds within or outside of the yearly national budget.

The rally, dubbed as “Stand Up Against All Pork,” will also highlight the first anniversary of the Million People March, wherein thousands of people gathered at the historic park amid the pork-barrel fund scandal.

Reyes said the Rizal Park rally is also “an occasion to register the people’s strongest opposition to Charter change and term extension and Aquino’s attacks on the judiciary to reverse the Supreme Court ruling on DAP (Disbursement Acceleration Program).”

Musician Monet Silvestre, one of those who first amplified the call for the anti-pork rally last year, has composed a reggae jingle to help raise awareness.

Silvestre, part of the ‘80s musical group The Tux, is also the spokesperson for #abolishpork.

Various church groups will also join the mass action against the pork barrel system.

Retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz will lead Catholic leaders, nuns and clergy in joining the protest rally that coincides with the celebration of National Heroes Day.

Dubbed as “Stand Up, Sign Up Against All Pork,” the rally in Rizal Park, also known as Luneta Park, will be held from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The gathering will push for the people’s initiative against the pork barrel also known as the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) that congressmen and senators allocate to themselves.

Cruz said the bishops have initiated their own signature campaign against the pork barrel, which critics believe remain in the budget through other forms after the Supreme Court declared as illegal last year the lump-sum appropriations for lawmakers.

“I don’t know if other bishops will be in Luneta. But Archbishop (Jose) Palma is heading the anti-pork signature drive in Cebu,” said Cruz, a former head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

The signature campaign for the people’s initiative, which was endorsed by the CBCP, was launched in Cebu City last Saturday.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle joined rallyists in Rizal Park during the first anti-pork barrel protest last year.

For this year, however, it is not certain if the head of the country’s Catholic hierarchy will again join the event.

Tagle’s secretary Fr. Reggie Malicdem said the Rizal Park gathering is not the cardinal’s schedule.

Other religious groups participate

Over the weekend, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP) have confirmed their participation in the event.

The NCCP said they would join the protest “to show our solidarity against corruption.”

The AMRSP, on the other hand, said they decided to join the rally to condemn “a system that is based on patronage and corruption.”

Schools under the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) led by its president Bro. Jun Erquiza will also join the event.

“I support any legislative move to pursue greater accountability and transparency on the part of our public officials and leaders especially in their use of public money and in the implementation of their tasks and responsibilities,” he said in a separate statement.

“I call on all reform-minded citizens to support this cause — first, by renewing personal contact with the poor and gaining insight into how these irregularities have hurt real people. Offenders should be punished,” he added.

‘Everyone can join’

Malacañang yesterday said everybody – friend or foe alike, including the 1.6 million government workers – are free to join today’s rally in Rizal Park, where critics of President Aquino are expected to show their strength.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, in her interview over government-owned radio station dzRB, said government workers need not fear a backlash or sanctions from their bosses, following reports state employees plan to join the rallies to air their grievances against unfair policies of the administration.

She said the government employees are free to join the rally since it is a holiday today.

“We just hope that the rally will be orderly,” Valte said Saturday.

She said there have already been arrangements and security plans laid out by both the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Metro Manila Development Authority about the rally in Manila to keep the traffic flow unhampered.

Cyclists against pork

In Cagayan, hundreds of cycling enthusiasts will pedal the 103 kilometers stretch from Tuguegarao to Aparri today to show their support for the abolition of pork barrel and similar political funding schemes.

Sherwin de Vera, one of the organizers of the “Padyak Kontra Pork,” said the cycling event is among the nationwide series of mass actions in support of the people’s initiative to abolish the pork barrel.

Tuguegarao City Archbishop Sergio Utleg is expected to join the cycling protest.

1BAP party-list group Rep. Silvestre Bello III said he does not mind having the pork barrel abolished.

Bello said his ongoing scholarship and child-feeding program does not depend on the pork barrel but he relies on the sponsorship of big private corporations that have been supporting his projects.

The National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) would provide security for the signature drive for the people’s initiative against the pork barrel system at Rizal Park.

PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima ordered NCRPO chief Director Carmelo Valmoria to personally supervise the security coverage in the area.

“The PNP Command has directed the NCRPO to provide security coverage, public safety services and other necessary contingency measures for the projected multi-sectoral rally against pork barrel,” said Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac, PNP Public Information Office director.

Sindac pointed out that the NCRPO and the Manila Police District could activate its Task Force Manila Shield when needed.

Clean rally urged

An environmental watchdog appealed to rallyists to promote a clean and safe protest action as thousands of supporters are expected to assemble at Rizal Park for the anti-pork barrel rally today.

The EcoWaste Coalition, which has declared its support for the people’s initiative to abolish the pork barrel system, appealed to fellow advocates for change to respect Rizal Park’s “no littering, no smoking” policy.

The group recalled that last year’s “Million People March,” which was also held at Luneta, drew commendations from green activists, netizens and park management for keeping trash to a minimum.

EcoWaste Coalition national coordinator Aileen Lucero said, “the Aug. 25 rally should duplicate, if not exceed, our collective environmental gain last year in terms of keeping Rizal Park and its vicinity garbage-free. Our patriotic struggle for zero corruption should not be detached from our quest for a zero waste society.”

The EcoWaste Coalition reminded all participants to put garbage into the proper bins and desist from smoking.

The group also advised rallyists not to explode firecrackers or burn protest props.

Lucero likewise appealed to participants to put their banners on poles, not on plants and trees; and abstain from any acts of violence and vandalism.

Other issues as well

Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday urged organizers of the people’s initiative to push for other controversial issues, aside from the pork barrel.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said those campaigning for people’s initiative should include Freedom of Information (FOI) and other measures unlikely to be approved by Congress.

“If they will do this national initiative or signature campaign, they should include everything. Make a law that will cover all these measures,” Brillantes said.

The People’s Initiative to Abolish Pork Barrel (PIAP) has reportedly gathered 5,000 signatures during the launch the other day.

Brillantes said that there are various controversial bills such as FOI that are strongly backed by the public but has not yet been passed by Congress.

“Let us not limit it only with DAP and PDAF. They should also include other controversial issues that they don’t expect to be passed by Congress,” Brillantes said.

Under the Constitution, legislation may be directly proposed by the people through initiative upon a petition of at least 12 percent of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least three percent of registered voters.

The Comelec is tasked to call and supervise the conduct of initiatives.

Brillantes said a consolidated people’s initiative should be undertaken to save time, effort and funds.

“It will not be an easy process. This has never happened before. Doing a national initiative will really take time,” he pointed out.

He said budget is required not just for the verification of signatures, which will also take a lot of time, but also for the plebiscite for it to become a law.

The Comelec is ready to supervise a people’s initiative if given the funding, he said.

“We can do it as soon as possible as long as they give us the budget. For now, we don’t have the budget for any people’s initiative,” Brillantes admitted. – With Mayen Jaymalin, Edu Punay, Delon Porcalla, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Raymund Catindig