Anti-pork barrel signature campaign to start Dec. 16

DUMAGUETE City, Philippines – An ecumenical group of different churches in Negros Oriental will officially launch on December 16 the signature campaign to gather as many votes as possible for the abolition of the pork barrel system.

This developed following a series of meetings of the Ecumenical Coordinating Council, headed by Catholic priest Fr. Ben Eric Lozada as convenor and Reverend Ed Samson of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) as co-convenor.

Father Lozada disclosed that prior to the December 16 launching, an assembly has been set Tuesday at the Marian Priests' Center, Cathedral Compound in Dumaguete, with Fr. Amado Picardal, CSsR, as guest speaker.

Student leaders from the different schools, colleges and universities here have been invited to the assembly which aims "to inform and form the minds of the young people to empower them to make a committed response to the people's initiative to abolish the pork barrel system."

"Our young leaders shall be used to take initiatives in the signature campaign in their own districts," said Fr. Lozada.

Aside from the churches, the Diocesan Electoral Board of the Diocese of Dumaguete, the academe, civil society organizations and other stakeholders have been invited to support the nationwide signature campaign for the abolition of these specific government funds.

According to Fr. Lozada, the diocese has chosen December 16 as the official date to begin gathering signatures from the different parishes as it is the start of the traditional Aguinaldo Mass or the nine-day dawn masses before Christmas Day.

He said it is very appropriate to choose such date for the petition signing as it also gives emphasis to the Catholic Church's celebration of the Year of the Poor.

The Diocesan Electoral Board, headed by Monsignor Julius Perpetuo Heruela as convenor, will also actively participate in the signature campaign to ensure that voters are properly educated on the pork barrel system and its issues before they sign the petition for its scrapping.

Father Lozada explained that the Ecumenical Coordinating Council is mobilizing all possible sectors to be able to reach out to as many voters as possible so that the nationwide People's Initiative will be successful.

A People's Initiative is a embodied in the 1987 Philippines Constitution for a constitutional amendment and in this case, and requires at least ten percent of the total number of registered voters which will lead to a referendum supervised by the Commission on Elections.

Meanwhile, the Diocese of Dumaguete will have two new deacons on Tuesday following their ordination set at 9 a.m. at the St. Catherine of Alexandria Cathedral in Dumaguete City.

To be ordained as deacons are Seminarian Ryan Jay P. Deposoy of the St. Francis Xavier Chaplaincy in San Francisco, Sta. Catalina and Seminarian Romolito Z. Reyes of the St. James the Greater Parish in Tanjay City, all in Negros Oriental.

Bishop Julito Cortes of the Diocese of Dumaguete will be the ordaining prelate in the concelebrated Mass. – /JMD