Author: Ed Lingao

‘The pen is mightier than the pork’

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The people’s initiative versus pork barrel in all forms
By Julius D. Mariveles

‘The pen is mightier than the pork.” – Inday Espina-Varona, Scrap Pork network

“This is not right, we must do something.” Renato Reyes, Bayan secretary-general

“When we talk about political fat there is also personal fat because our political problem is not only about the leadership; people who elect leaders are also part of the problem.” – Runing priest Robert Reyes

“Bakit hindi nila gusto na ibalik ang silya elektrika; dahil marami sa Lapi-ang Pera ang madadamay.” – Baby Dankin, 61-year-old Mandaluyong City resident

THEY MARCHED, danced, laughed, prayed, and some even did yoga at Luneta against pork barrel in all forms on a day to remember heroes.

A year after the Million People’s March, sparked by the controversy over the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), organizers of a people’s initiative that seeks to institutionalize a ban of the fund are now optimistic that they can gather the required six million signatures.

[A copy of the petition was uploaded on Scribd by GMA News Online]

“This is concrete, peaceful, constructive, and productive, we only need a ball pen and six million Filipinos will show that the pen is mightier than the pork,” Maria Salvacion “Inday” Espina-Varona, change.org Philippine campaigns director and a member of the Scrap Pork Network, told the PCIJ.

Varona said political dynasties use the pork barrel to further patronage politics and continue their domination. “There are many anti-dynasty movements and I cannot understand why some of them are not opposing the use of pork barrel.”

There is now a clear alternative compared to last year, she added. Instead of legislators acting like “fairy godmothers or Santa Claus” by deliberately missing out things during the annual budgeting process, government should put everything in the national budget.

Among the estimated 20,000 crowd that gathered at the Luneta or Rizal Park, named in honor of the national hero Jose Rizal, were three nuns from the order of the Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They came as early as 5:30 a.m.

“The people’s initiative is part of vigilance, we need to keep watch over the nation’s coffers,” one of them, Elinore Llanes, said as she voiced hopes that “this would be a significant step” in making people more involved in watching over their money.

Sister Patricia Martinez also wanted to sign the petition but she was not sure if the COMELEC had already cancelled her registration as a voter in Baguio City. “I don’t want the initiative to fail because of technicalities,” she said, as she added that she still came to the rally because “I believe in (the cause), if we don’t make a stand, if we don’t move, what will happen to us?”

NOT JUST ANGRY

Far from being a scattered organization last year during the Million People March, Reyes said the movement against pork has “already advanced” because it has a shared purpose now, which is to have a law passed to ban the use of the fund unlike last year when people were “just angry” according to Varona.

“We are all taxpayers, everytime we buy something we pay taxes, and public funds are involved in pork barrel… this goes to corruption and is being used for patronage politics; hindi tama ito, dapat may gawin tayo (this is not right, we should do something),” he said.

Reyes added that talks about President Benigno S. Aquino III wanting to have a second term are fuelling the protests. “He does not want to be accountable; he wants to stay in power and he has to use pork to convince the congressmen.”

“I am angry, I am ashamed of this government,” Baby Dankin, a member of Samahang Sibiko, told the PCIJ. The 61-year-old Mandaluyong City resident came early to the rally along with some of her neighbors, a pig mask on top of her head.

“Why is it that only three were jailed?” she asked, referring to the jailing of Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Bong Revilla who were implicated in the PDAF scam involving Janet Lim-Napoles who allegedly gave millions of pesos in kickbacks to legislators.

“Bakit hindi nila gusto na ibalik ang silya elektrika; dahil marami sa Lapi-ang Pera ang madadamay (Why is it that they don’t want the electric chair back? It is because many from the Money Party will be punished),” she said. LP stands for the ruling Liberal Party.

The issue might be serious but the mood was festive at the Luneta grounds. Families came with picnic blankets and baskets, children played as speeches were being given, and running priest Robert Reyes held a symbolic run to launch his parallel campaign for people to shed fat.

“When we talk about political fat there is also personal fat because our political problem is not only about the leadership; people who elect leaders are also part of the problem,” he said.

SHED PERSONAL FAT, TOO

Reyes’ new slogan: “be FIT and FED, not FAT.”

FIT stands for Freedom, Integration and Transformation while FED means Fasting, Exercise and Proper Diet. FAT, on the other hand, stands for Fear, Addiction and Temptation.

People should learn how to transform their mind, spirit and body he said while politicians should learn to stay away from FAT. “All politicians start out with good intentions but they soon start to fear losing their position and then the temptation comes in and it becomes an addiction,” he said.

Archibishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, meanwhile, said the survey ratings of the president are dropping. The prelate did his own survey of sorts, asking the crowd to rate the president’s performance from 10 or “admirable” to zero or “terrible.” The crowd responded with an overwhelming “zero” grade for PNoy.

“I hope these figures are wrong because most of them are from the religious and I assume that they are just saying what is in their hearts; I will take this seriously,” he said.

Other senior prelates of the Roman Catholic Church who expressed their support for the protest were Manila Archbishop Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle and Lingayan-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

The influential CBCP had already released a statement early this month expressing its support for the people’s initiative.

THE PEOPLE’S INITIATIVE

Under 1987 Philippine Constitution, citizens can undertake a direct passage of a law through “people’s initiative” or by signing a petition that would gather at least 15 percent of all registered voters throughout the country, with at least 15 percent of the registered voters in each of the 234 legislative districts. It is also provided for under the Republic Act No. 6735 or An Act Providing For A System of Initiative and Referendum and Appropriating Funds Therefor.

COMELEC can stir-fry initiative versus pork

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THE PEOPLE’S initiative versus the pork barrel might fail if the current Commission on Elections will count the votes during a referendum for the approval of a law that would ban the fund.

This was the warning of Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, one of the speakers during the Luneta rally yesterday, August 25, that launched the national campaign to gather six million signatures to outlaw the use of lump-sum appropriations for lawmakers and the President.

“Matagal ng panahon na hindi marunong magbilang ang COMELEC (The COMELEC does not know how to count for a long time),” Cruz said.

The prelate, also a critic of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and one of the Church leaders supporting the people’s initiative, pointed out that “even if the six million signatures are gathered then there would be a referendum then the counting of votes, tapos na ang kwento (it’s all over),” he added.

The COMELEC is a constitutional body under the 1987 Freedom Constitution and is supposed to enjoy a high level of independence but controversies have hounded it even after the Marcos dictatorship. The most recent serious scandal involved President Arroyo and former commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, who allegedly led the rigging of votes for the former Chief Executive.

“To destroy an institution like the Commission on Elections (Comelec), you must first fill it up with handpicked commissioners with questionable credentials and even more dubious impartiality. Then, let them run the constitutional body as if they were ruling over personal fiefdoms. This would then reduce middle-level bureaucrats to mere vassals doing — or forced to do — their every bidding, including perhaps, as the taped conversations involving President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano suggest, rigging the elections in their political benefactor’s favor.”

Read more in our 2005 i-Report special issue, “The COMELEC’s fall from grace: What went wrong with the Comelec?“

Aside from the scandals involving its officials, the COMELEC also committed “mistakes.”

“The Commission on Elections has a lot to account for, with some of its “mistakes” running into billions of taxpayers’ pesos. Ironically, some of its costliest errors had started out as a means to improve the election process and minimize voting irritants.”

Read more of these fiascos in “Sins of the Commission.”

Rekindling hope

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IT WAS a gathering repeated over and over again for the past 57 months. This time, on the grounds of the National Council of Churches of the Philippines office in Quezon City, Philippines, journalists, families and friends of the victims of the Ampatuan Massacre gathered to light candles and rekindle hope as the case dragged on to its 57th month yesterday, November 23, 2014.

The Ampatuan Massacre is considered the worst single attack on journalists worldwide. Thirty-two of those killed in the sub-village of Masalay in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province in southern Philippines were journalists and media workers. They were part of a group that was supposed to deliver the certificate of candidacy of now Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.

Then Maguindanao Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr., a close ally of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is suspected to have ordered the killing. His son, Andal Jr., is alleged to have directed the killings on the ground.

The Ampatuan Massacre case is now being heard by a regional trial court in Quezon City, still stuck after several years on the motions for bail filed by several of the principal accused. Public and private prosecutors are at odds over the handling of the case (“Don’t rest case yet, media groups warn Maguindanao prosecutors”), with some private prosecutors saying that the premature resting of the evidence-in-chief would derail the search for justice for the victims and their families.

There were also allegations that some public prosecutors, including a justice undersecretary, have been bribed while families of the victims exposed attempts to pay them off in exchange for withdrawing from the complaint (“We Want Justice, Not Money”).

Meanwhile, lawyers of several of the principal accused, including Andal Sr. and Andal Jr., withdrew from the case (“I was conflicted, Fortun explains why he quit as Ampatuan counsel”).

For more information and background about the massacre, you can go to the Ampatuan Trial Watch microblog site of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility.

This video short produced by PCIJ’s Julius D. Mariveles tells you in brief about the commemoration activity on the 57th month of the Ampatuan Massacre.

THE BLOG LOG

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IN CASE you missed our stories last week, we invite you to our Storify page where you can have the convenience of going over the links to the stories that were published on the PCIJ website, the blog, or on our other social media channels.

Please click on the photo to be redirected to our Storify page or you can look for our Storify page, “PCIJ,” on www.storify.com.

Happy weekend and see you next week for more stories.

G7

Poems for the fallen

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TODAY, 57 months after the Ampatuan Massacre, justice has yet to be had for 58 people who were murdered on a hilltop in the village of Masalay in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province.

Exactly 57 months ago today, armed men believed to be under orders from some members of the Ampatuan family, brutally killed the victims who were on their way to deliver the certificate of candidacy of Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu who challenged the Ampatuans for the governorship of Maguindanao province.

Thirty-two of the victims were journalists and media workers.

The multiple murder cases against more than 100 accused – including some members of the Ampatuan clan that were identified as the alleged masterminds – have dragged on for years. Lately, private prosecutors made public their disagreement with the decision of public prosecutors to rest the case against 28 of the co-accused. Some families of the victims have also confirmed attempts by the Ampatuan family to pay them millions of pesos in exchange for withdrawing from the case.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has called the Ampatuan Massacre as the single deadliest attack against journalists. The International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) has declared November 23 as the International Day to End Impunity – a day that IFEX has dedicated not only to the victims of the massacre but all those who have been targeted for “exercising their right to freedom of expression, and to shed light on the issue of impunity.”

PCIJ’s Julius D. Mariveles and Cong B. Corrales read their poems in this slideshow of photos taken by Mariveles in 2010 at the massacre site during the first year commemoration.

Mariveles’ poem written in Hiligaynon is titled “Lima Ka Napulo kag Walo,” 58 in the local language, and talks about the slow grind of the wheels of justice. Corrales’ “Ang Pinakamadilim na Tanghali” or “The Darkest Noon describes the Ampatuan Massacre.

Today, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines is leading the commemoration rites at the NCCP Grounds, Quezon Avenue, EDSA. Those who want to attend are requested to wear black.