Category: advocacy

marching

the last time i marched was on the day after ninoy’s funeral, to liwasang bonifacio for an anti-marcos rally. it was the first gathering of leftists and yellow peeps since the assassination and, if memory serves, marcos’s metrocom was nowhere to be seen. just the same, medyo mahigpit ang security, every group marshalling its own ranks, for fear, i supposed, of infiltrators who might make trouble.  gigi duenas (de beaupre), an old friend from u.p. basement days, and i found each other early on, neither of us with any particular group, and so we mostly moved around as speeches were made.  we squatted (literally) by the leftists for a while — i remember nelia sancho, seated on the ground, may baong lata ng skyflakes.  but the yellow brigades, there was no joining them, no getting past their marshals, even if i was wearing a yellow top, and that was disappointing.

when it was over gigi and i walked all the way back to metromag (central bank bldg) where we found marita manuel, ishmael bernal, marilou diaz-abaya, and jorge arago hanging around the backdoor steps of the met museum watching marchers walk by.  heto na ang mga aktibista, sey nila in welcome.

i don’t know that i’m still up to a march in these my lola days (daze), but see you on august 26.  scrap all pork barrel in all its incarnations!

 

spinning the pork

the chismis is, aapir si presidente sa aug 26 rally.  sana hindi totoo.  but i wouldn’t be surprised if he’s truly considering it.  after that abolition kuno of the pork barrel, it’s clear he is engaged in high spin: doing kuno what we asked for, and so we’re really all KKK, as in … kakampi, kakapit-bisig, kuno, and so he’s with us on this, yey, join siya sa rally, LOL!

‘It’s Still Pork’

Million People March still on as critics mock PDAF ‘abolition’

MANILA, Philippines — Critics of President Benigno Aquino III on Friday mocked his statement ordering the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund, saying it did not change the loathed pork barrel system a growing number of Filipinos blame for perpetuating corruption and patronage politics.

Read on

let a MILLION PEOPLE MARCH

this has been going around facebook since yesterday, so far reposted 633 times and counting.  a call for a major major march vs. the pork barrel on aug 26, monday, a holiday commemorating the start of the 1896 revolution.

This is a REPOST from Ito Rapadas
Please repost kung mamartsa kayo. Salamat at mabuhay ang mga tunay na Pilipino!

“What we need is a MILLION PEOPLE MARCH by struggling Filipino taxpayers- a day of protest by the silent majority that would demand all politicians and govt. officiials (whatever the political stripes, color they may carry) to stop pocketing our taxes borne out from our hard work by means of these pork barrel scams and other creative criminal acts. They don’t want to investigate themselves, they remain relaxed and unperturbed because they believe it will die down in time. Let’s make them feel that this time is DIFFERENT cause we are all sick and tired of it! PLS. REPOST IF YOU AGREE!”

sounds good.  government needs to get the message that we’re angry, we’re fed up, we want an end to the pork barrel system.  a million or more marching would grab their attention.  but for a stronger, more emphatic, delivery of the message, let’s not march to luneta, which is a dead end.  let’s march to EDSA instead, on a workday, just because we want traffic, lives, schedules disrupted, we want people to stop and ask, what’s going on, and to see why this is every pinoy’s and pinay’s fight for responsible spending by government.  we want media spreading the word, we want as many people as possible, from gated villages to the grass roots — across classes, across ages, across genders, across ideologies, across seas — discussing the pork barrel, and expressing soldiarity with the million marchers.

but we cannot, we should not, stop there. do we want an investigation, i.e., televised public hearings? do we want to know what senators and reps have been really spending their pork barrel funds on in the last two years, and how much goes back to them in the form of commissions / kickbacks?  if found guilty, do we want them punished, ousted?  do we want them to give the money back?  YES to all of the above, i would think?  but all these should be very clearly articulated, because if we leave it up to government to act on the issue, their lawyers will plead due process, i.e., innocent until proven guilty in a proper court, while the senators and congressmen will just get creative and start calling the PDAF by another name / other names, with the complicity of the palace, of course, and tuloytuloy lang ang ligaya.

what if we make DEMANDS such as these:

1. THAT CONGRESS FREEZE ALL SPENDING OF PORK BARREL FUNDS;

2. THAT THE PALACE FREEZE ALL SPENDING OF “SPECIAL FUNDS” OF WHICH THE PDAF IS BUT A SMALL PART;

3.  THAT THE PRESIDENT ISSUE AN EXECUTIVE ORDER CREATING A TRUTH & CONSEQUENCE COMMISSION WITH SUBPOENA POWERS THAT WILL INVESTIGATE THE COMPLICITY OF SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN WITH NGOS AND CONTRACTORS, AND HOW MUCH GOES BACK TO SENATORS AND REPS IN COMMISSIONS/KICKBACKS;

4. THAT THE TRUTH & CONSEQUENCE COMMISSION BE COMPOSED OF MULTICOLOR MULTISECTORAL STALWARTS OF CIVIL SOCIETY, YUNG PRO-PEOPLE NA MERONG CREDIBILITY, SUCH AS: CHRISTIAN MONSOD, RENE SAGUISAG, MELINDA QUINTOS DE JESUS, HEBER BARTOLOME, RANDY DAVID, LEONOR BRIONES, CONRADO DE QUIROS, LENI ROBREDO, SATUR OCAMPO;

5. THAT THERE BE TWO MONTHS OF DAILY TELEVISED PUBLIC HEARINGS, SIX DAYS A WEEK, TO DETERMINE WHO HAVE ENRICHED THEMSELVES ON PORK BARREL FUNDS, AND DESERVE TO BE PUNISHED AND/OR PENALIZED.  TWO MONTHS, THREE MONTHS TOPS.  WE WANT THIS RESOLVED BY CHRISTMAS:  PAMASKO SA BAYAN.

6. THAT SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES WHO ARE FOUND GUILTY OF ENRICHING THEMSELVES ON PORK BARREL FUNDS A) BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE?  B) SUSPENDED LANG?  FOR HOW LONG?  WITHOUT PAY?  A POSSIBLE EXCEPTION FOR SENATORS / REPRESENTATIVES WHO MIGHT STEP UP AND VOLUNTEER INFORMATION THAT HELP, HASTEN, THE INVESTIGATIONS, A LA STATE WITNESSES, MAYBE ONE MONTH SUSPENSION LANG?

7. THAT STOLEN MONIES  BE RETURNED, AND TURNED OVER TO BIR COMMISSIONER KIM HENARES FOR SAFEKEEPING UNTIL THE PRESIDENT IS PREPARED TO AUGMENT THE BUDGETS FOR HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND ENVIRONMENT, THE BETTER TO ADDRESS INCREASINGLY URGENT NEEDS NATIONWIDE.

and that’s my two cents.  here’s hoping that serious plans are afoot to organize and unite behind this exciting advocacy, and to dare take the leap from social media to the parliament of the streets.  mabuhay!