The real issue

Up to now, talks and debates continue regarding the actual size of the crowd that attended the “million people march” at the Luneta Park last August 26, 2013 for the abolition of the pork barrel. As expected P-Noy and his spokesmen are claiming that the rally was not massive enough to prove that the greater majority of Filipinos would like to junk this deplorable system of spending the taxpayers’ money. Obviously they are relying on the usually conservative police estimate that only 80,000 to 100,000 people were at the gathering, contrary to much vaunted predictions of the anti-pork rallyists.

It is really hard if not impossible to make a head count of the people who went there. Definitely however, based simply on the aerial photos of the Luneta crowd appearing on the front pages of the newspapers, there were more than 100,000 who attended the rally. My wife Josie and my two sons Jopet and Joel were with me at the rally as early as 9 a.m. and we can safely claim that the police estimate is way off the mark especially because people keep on coming and going all day long such that the soggy grounds of the park was always SRO until the end of the rally. Considering further the other protest rallies in major cities nationwide, the mass actions are truly reflective of the peoples’ sentiment that should push P-Noy to reconsider his stubborn stand not to abolish the pork barrel system.

Indeed as we witnessed the spontaneous Luneta gathering and monitored the other  gatherings all over the country, we cannot help but recall the 1986 Edsa people power revolt when there was a never ending stream of people coming and going through the entire length of the Edsa from Santolan to Ortigas Ave. The predominant feeling at the Luneta rally was that another Edsa is in the offing if P-Noy will not heed the clamor to scrap the pork.

It is really quite unfortunate that we have a president who seems to be more concerned about the popularity rather than the righteousness of his decisions and moves. He is always banking on poll surveys to justify his actions. When people question the propriety of his moves, he invariably falls back on poll surveys showing that his acceptance ratings have not gone down.

 The danger here lies not only on the inaccuracy and unreliability of these surveys as they represent only a handful (average of 1,200 people) of respondents and can be subject to manipulation. But more dangerous and alarming is the method and style of ascertaining what is right and just in some sort of a popularity contest. This is like pandering to and arousing the peoples’ prejudices and passions through press releases and oratory to show that he is right which is typical of any traditional politician and not that of a statesman badly needed by the country now.

Indeed, there is really no point at all to quibble about the actual number of people who attended the rallies at the Luneta and other parts of the country. The more important and the real issue here is not size of the crowd but the cause they are fighting for: whether it is true and just. It does not matter at all whether one million or more rose up in protest against the pork barrel system. What really matters is whether the pork barrel will be good or bad for our country and people.

And what is really the truth about the pork barrel? To answer this question, let me just quote a portion of the Pastoral letter issued by the Archbishop of Caceres, Rolando J. Tria Tirona, O.C.D., D.D, which fairly and clearly describes its nature, essence and inherent wickedness. He wrote thus: 

“Like political dynasties, the pork barrel is a cause of our unending poverty: lawmakers are at the behest of the Chief Executive and, appallingly, the people beg for what actually belong to them.

With the Chief Executive controlling the release of the funds to congressmen and senators, our laws may not be the will of the people. With congressmen and senators releasing the funds for their pet projects, public funds may be used for their personal interests, as what is happening now.

There may be projects from the PDAF of some congressmen or senators that benefitted the people. But these are mere fragments compared to the benefits reaped by congressmen or senators as the PDAF strengthened patronage politics. Truly, the pork barrel system is a way for politicians to appear clean when their intent and purpose are in fact corrupt.”

Pointing out that “pork by any other name is still pork”, Archbishop Tirona, wrote further:

“The decision of the President to regulate the PDAF is meaningless for as long as the heart of the pork barrel continues to beat strongly in our political system. It is the same heart that gave life to political dynasties. The essence of the pork barrel system and political dynasties is concentration of power.

In a democracy, the concentration of power in one person or one group is evil. It results to wholesale corruption and dehumanizing poverty. Social development is impossible when the people are crippled by poverty and enslaved by corruption.

The clamor for the abolition of the pork barrel system does not end in scrapping numbers in the national budget or lessening the discretion in dispensing the fund. Instead, it is a cry for social reforms. It is a collective desire for social justice. And we pave the way for social justice when we end the concentration of power.

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His Excellency, President Benigno Aquino III, has announced that the PDAF will be abolished and that more stringent procedures will be observed so public funds will not be used for ghost projects.

We acknowledge his response to the nationwide clamor to abolish the pork barrel. However, the pork barrel is not merely an administrative or an accounting issue. It is a moral issue and as such, can only be resolved with a fidelity to truth and justice.

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Do not partake of pork in any form dangled by corrupt politicians. Although President Aquino has decided to regulate the pork barrel system, such measure does nothing to patronage politics which hurt the poor most”.

So after Luneta, let us go on fighting against the pork barrel system by having more and bigger rallies until PNoy finally junks it. See you at EDSA on September 11, 2013.

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