Briones urges fight to continue

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines - Former national treasurer Leonor Briones, also chair of Silliman University's Board of Trustees, yesterday urged those who joined the marches against pork barrel nationwide to continue their calls of protest until 2016.

"We have to sustain the protests, let's not stop after today," Briones said yesterday in her lecture at SU in line of the university's 112th Founders Day celebration. "Let's monitor and pressure our legislators."

She was also elated over the participation of Dumaguetenos in the rally against pork barrel at the Rizal Boulevard yesterday. "I am thankful that we here in Dumaguete also show that we care for what happens to our money. This can help fill up the cry of those who joined the Million People March in Manila. It's a way of showing that it's not only the people in Manila who care what happens to the country," she said.

She also likened the P25-billion pork barrel to a piglet, whose mother pig is the P2.268-trillion national budget. "Pork, no matter what you do, is still pork. There are many ways to cook pork. There's menudo, barbecue, and others. But still, it's pork," she said, adding that changing its names would not work if the money itself is misused.

Briones said building schools and roads is "not a congressman's job. They're lawmakers. ... Nothing more. We should all care for the abuse of our money through the pork barrel, even though it is just the tip of the iceberg. Because at the end of the day, we are all paying for P2.268 trillion budget."

SU president Ben Malayang III also showed his support to the millions of Filipinos who are calling for the abolition of the pork barrel. "Let's please stop the abuse, now! Let us condemn the wanton pilferage of our national coffers and the shameless rape of our national dignity. Let us not allow pretentious claims of the virtues of pork barrel," he said. "The Filipino people do not deserve this travesty."