Category: pork barrel

EDSA PORk

By Godofredo U. Stuart Jr. 

I have been to the last three Nazareno festivals,
true masa gatherings of the B, C, D, and E’s.
The grounds filled with the commerce of religion,
One grand stage where ministers of God
spewed sermons and dispensed blessings,
to countless devotees with their panatas.

This day was different.
A political rally, a gathering of the B.
Perhaps, a few of the burgis A’s, some C’s.
They filled up the Manila Hotel lobby,
dominant in white garb,
some with overnight accommodations,
assured of plush seats to empty bladders and colons from,
horrified by the idea of using Porta Potties.
Politicos and celebrities trickled in
Offering a side attraction . . . or distraction. . .
not to miss the opportunity,
ready with prepackaged messages for eventual sound bites.

Outside, a cloudy day, with only recurring light drizzles,
that disappointed the umbrella vendors.
Walked around through a seamless crowd.
A silent patch, heads bowed in prayer and mass.
Scattered stages with anti-pork placards and banners
drawing sectional audiences,
competing and outwitting each other
with anti-pork slogans and rhetoric.

It got old soon enough.
I went back to where I was parked, the Burgos side of the Park.
Sat on a sidewalk ledge
and watched the people stream in and out.
The B men and women in white,
a few in wheelchairs, some in canes.
Many in the autumn of their lives,
there to share in a desperate hope
that something will come out of this collective outrage.

The night before, over dinner, with a friend
we pondered on the incredible math on the pork barrel scam,
and wondered where it will go.
He said But no one will go to jail.
If stealing 50 million from the coffers of government
defines plunder,
how many are not guilty of plunder?
He said One or two
Surely no more than the fingers of one hand.

As the men and women in white walked by,
I watched the D and E in their daily commerce,
Happy for this event,
not for the possibilities of change or what it promises,
but for the opportunity it brings to eke out a living,
that will feed the next few days.
Selling umbrellas and ground mats,
probably praying for a downpour.
Masa fare of banana cues and small binalots.
Ttwo kids sharing on a plastic cup of something.
The man, with his allotted stretch of parking spaces,
sitting on the ground, eating, sharing with a daughter
a lump of plain white rice,
perhaps, white salt, and nothing else,
in a white styrofoam plate,
very much in keeping with the color motif of the day.
He caught me looking and said
Baka mayroon kang pagkain,
baka puwede mo nang iwanan sa amin pag alis mo.
I asked him about the rally,
he said Walang manyayari diyan.

The B have claimed this as middle class tax-paying outrage.
Where does it go from here?
Can the middle class sustain this outrage,
without the decibels from the lumpen proletariat,
the masa who have long resigned to the political corruption,
the ultimate beneficiaries of change?

The picnic is over.
In its wake, some possibilities for this middle class collective outrage.
Weeks before the picnic, a friend intimated:
This pork thing can be the next Edsa.
I am sure it brewed as much in countless conversations.

And suddenly, with the immediacy of media,
the drama of whistle blowers and exposés filled our days,
as easy and comprehensible pork barrel math
provided graphic numbers to the scope of political greed.
Suddenly, there was a clarion call.

The pork barrel became a pig,
to symbolize political gluttony and greed.

There are lines out of a Dylan song,
in case you’re too young to know,
or too old to have forgotten. . .

Come senators, congressmen. please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall,
For he who gets hurt will be he who has stalled,
There’s a battle outside and it’s raging
It will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls,
For the times they are a-changing.

Change a few words, and you have an anthem.

This is a historic crossroad.
An opportunity that may not present itself again.
Suddenly, there is the possibility of change
that heretofore, we have given up on,
with our collective sigh of resignation. . .
Not in our lifetime.
It is here, and we must not waste it.

Indeed, perhaps, it is time to take it to Edsa,
before the clamor and outrage subsides.
For both sides, it will be a battle of political will and resolve,
How to sustain the outrage and what hands to wield
against an establishment that will do all to keep the status quo.

Edsa One had a face, Marcos.
Edsa Dos, Erap.
Edsa Tres, Arroyo.
For the next Edsa, it’s the Pig, for the congressmen and senators
who have been plundering since the birth of pork barrel.

Take it to Edsa.
Luneta is too convenient.
Edsa Por.
Edsa PORk.

notes and breaking news on the eve of luneta the rally

some people still think it’s an all-white rally.  in fact peachy rallonza has listened to reason, mabuhay siya: let it be a colorful and inclusive event, where every sector, every group, every individual, of all ideological leanings, and their colors and banners, as long as they’re for scrapping the pork barrel, are welcome.  yes, including the left, why ever not.

epic failure of communications.  very weird how the core group that’s been helping peachy deal with issues like this have not been communicating disseminating such decisions via social media.  almost as though they welcome the inadequately informed news reports, the incessant arguing over small stuff.  almost like trojan horses?   they also refused to be named, which makes you wonder why.  because affiliated too with the yellow admin?  because they’re not really for abolition of pork barrel, reform lang, but the movement has grown so huge they can’t bear to not be part of it, integrity, and rally, be damned?

and, talaga naman, the anti-left campaign, you wonder where it’s coming from.  black ops, obviously, when in fact the militant orgs have been invited to and attending meetings with peachy’s group and engaging in positive discussions with other orgs and unaffiliated individuals about the rally.

the latest “news” via facebook is that paaalisin daw ng citizens ang left?  ganoon?  here’s an exchange between katrina and peque gallaga:

katrina : i personally think that this is feeding on the public’s perception against the Left, and whoever’s doing it is actually taking a stand against the rally itself. it is still smoke and mirrors, and we know who’s really good at THAT.

peque: … they’re trying to frighten the conservative sector of society who are planning to go to Luneta by making it look that the militants are planning to go into violence mode. But apparently, these same militants are talking with all the organizers of the rally and are agreeing on ground rules so that we can have a united stand against all these abuses. It’s Marcos psy-war tricks all over again. It’s ironic that it’s being played now by the Aquino administration. But we’re not surprised, are we?

… there comes a time where you have to put differences aside and work together for the greater good. If we don’t, then all those corrupt politicos deserve everything they steal from us because we’re simply narrow-minded, parochial, selfish, petty and can’t come together as a nation.

on other fb threads, i’ve said this again and again:  being so anti-left on this, when they are as much against the pork barrel as we are, is playing right into the government’s divide-and-rule tactics.

i truly wonder why we aren’t more concerned about the promised police presence, and what about the guardians, a military fraternity said to be associated with senators honasan and trillanes, who got a permit for the place ahead of the group, i hear.  true or false?  what’s going on?  we’re so wary and disapproving of unarmed leftists. we should be more worried and unhappy about armed rightists.

breaking news: Luneta anti-‘pork’ protesters advised by the police: Don’t bring backpacks, valuables, children!  no bags?  saan namin ilalagay ang baong tubig at pagkain, kapote at payong atbp.?   searches?  playing the terrorism card?  takutan blues?  suddenly injecting an element of danger?  but that didn’t stop us from going to EDSA and stopping tanks in ’86.  it won’t stop us now.

MAKIBAKA! HUWAG MATAKOT!

SCRAP ALL PORK BARREL IN ALL ITS INCARNATIONS!

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!