Skip to main content

Anti-pork rally held in Laoag, again


Laoag Bishop Renato Mayugba: Scrap the pork barrel system
Photos by Romelyn Tutaan and Lei Adriano

By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff Reporter

The outrage over the misuse of pork barrel continues to mount as another rally against it was staged on September 28.

That time, the rally was organized by religious leaders from the Roman Catholic Church, Iglesia Filipina Independiente and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.

Who’s the boss?
“Who is your boss?” asked a farmer-leader Rogelio dela Cruz as he left his farm and animals on the afternoon of September 28 so he can attend a prayer rally and express his disgust on political leaders he constantly see on television involved in the pork barrel scam.

“If you say we are your boss, then why are we suffering?” he continued referring to elected officials whose campaign propaganda during elections is always “to serve the poor and needy” but based on what he sees and hears over radio and television, “These greedy government officials are taking advantage of the poor by abusing their power to advance their self-vested interest.”

Joining more than a hundred farmer-leaders, students, women activists, church workers, priests and bishops from the Roman Catholic Church, Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, a student, John Paul Peralta from the Divine Word College of Laoag said he could hardly believe what he is constantly reading on newspapers and social media about billions of pesos being pocketed by abusive politicians and their cohorts through their pork barrel allotment.



Churches unite
Proving that Christian churches can set aside doctrinal and other differences and work together to fight social evils, UCCP Rev. Sadire Gumpad aired their support for the abolition of pork barrel from the president down to the barangays.

“We paid a significant amount through our taxes to uplift the nation and to help in poverty alleviation. Sadly, our political leaders have proven themselves no better than Judas. Their pronouncement of the needs of the poor was merely a faƧade for their own thievery and abuse of power. The nation has been betrayed by those stealing from the common purse and we denounce that the poor who continue to endure hunger, demolition, unemployment and underemployment have been abused by such plunder,” Gumpad told the faithful at the ecumenical union to abolish pork barrel held in front of the Lourdes Grotto of the St. William the Hermit Cathedral in Laoag City.

The bishops of the IFI also participated in prayer rally calling on President Aquino “to recover the trust of the people through persistent effort to prosecute and punish plunders regardless of who they are. However for justice and for peace to dwell in our land, investigation and prosecution must go beyond Napoles, government officials and other politicians’ link to her.”



The IFI also prayed for the investigation of the Department of Agriculture for allowing bogus NGOs get accreditation, the Department of Finance for tolerating systematic corruption over the years and for the Commission on Audit to answer why it is only now that they have come up with published audit reports including a thorough investigation on the reported connections of the pork barrel scam operation to the Office of the President.

“President Aquino must also account himself to the people over the nature and control of the presidential pork barrel that reaps a huge amount of money,” said the IFI in a public statement both signed by Bishop Vic Exclamado, Chairperson of the Supreme Council of Bishops and Supreme Bishop Ephraim Fajutagana.

In closing, Bishop Renato Mayugba of the Diocese of Laoag said the nationwide call to scrap the pork barrel is not only in the “point of view of the faithful but also for the love of our country.”

“It’s not enough that we register our position to pork barrel but more of what we can do. When we look at the pork barrel system, it’s just one of the symptoms of a sick state of affairs in the country. We don’t like being cheated but we have to admit, we have sinned too. Why they have pork barrel? During election, we sell them our votes and we elect thieves. Beyond looking at the pork barrel, we must also ask ourselves, how have I contributed to the corruption in my country? One aspect of the problem is—we succumbed to patronage politics. This should serve as a wake-up call to all of us. To make an effort to change our political system by saying no to patronage politics and we should be vigilant and unwilling to cooperate with any form of corruption,” Bishop Mayugba told participants as they ended the prayer rally by singing, “Bayan ko”, a patriotic Filipino song that stresses the love of country.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Empanada festival: A celebration of good taste and good life

By Dominic B. dela Cruz & Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporters BATAC CITY—If there is one thing Batac is truly proud of, it would be its famous empanada-making business that has nurtured its people over the years. Embracing a century-old culture and culinary tradition, Batac’s empanada claims to be the best and tastiest in the country with its distinctive Ilokano taste courtesy of its local ingredients: fresh grated papaya, mongo, chopped longganisa, and egg. The crispy orange wrapper and is made of rice flour that is deep-fried. The celebration of this city’s famous traditional fast food attracting locals and tourists elsewhere comes with the City Charter Day of Batac every 23 rd  of June. Every year, the City Government of Batac led by Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta commemorate the city’s charter day celebration to further promote its famous One-Town, One Product, the Batac empanada. Empanada City The Batac empanada festival has already become an annua

PIDS expert says income tax cuts justified; warns gov’t of revenue loss

Proposals to amend the personal income tax schedule appear to be well-justified. However, these proposals should include measures that will allow government to recover the revenue loss from lower income taxes. Dr. Rosario Manasan, senior research fellow of state think-tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), said at a seminar sponsored by the Philippine Senate, that government should look for new revenue measures to compensate for the projected revenue loss that will arise as a result of the implementation of any of the various proposals to restructure the personal income tax. Currently, there are several income tax reform proposals pending in both houses of Congress. All of them, according to Dr. Manasan, have the same objective of addressing the phenomenon of bracket creep, which results from “non-indexation to inflation of personal income tax brackets”. Simply put, bracket creep occurs when employees’ income increases over time as a result of inflation. Th

PGIN honors Ilocano heroes of past, present through Heroes Walk

SPO1 Allan Lampitoc Franco of Banna, Ilocos Norte and PO2 Jovalyn D. Lozano of Adams, Ilocos Norte receive a resolution of commendation, a certificate of college scholarship grant to their family members and a P20,000 cash incentive each from the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte represented by Governor Imee R. Marcos and Vice Governor Angelo M. Barba in recognition of their bravery and heroic acts in the Mamasapano clash in Maguindanao on January 25. Mr. Franco and Mr. Lozano were recognized on March 10 in time for the unveiling of the second batch of Ilocano heroes at the Heroes Walk located along the Sirib Mile in Laoag City.  (Lei Adriano) By Jennifer T. Pambid PGIN-CMO In honor of the heroes who brought freedom, fame and glory to the province as well as to the country in the past century, the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte (PGIN) through the Education Department and Sirib Youth Office launched the second batch of Ilocano Heroes Walk on March 10, 2015.