Despite a pronouncement by President Benigno Aquino III for pork barrel reforms Friday, the gathering scheduled Monday in Dumaguete calling for the abolition of the Priority Assistance Development Fund will push through.
Roy Bustillo, president emeritus of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP)-Negros Oriental chapter, said the anti-pork barrel protest activity will simply be a “picnic” where people from various sectors in the community will come together to air their outrage in the recent pork barrel scam.
Despite the announcement of President Aquino III that it is time to abolish the pork barrel, scores of people from Dumaguete and Negros Oriental still intimated their desire to stage the peaceful protest gathering to express their outrage against the latest scandal to hit the Aquino administration.
Doubtful of the President’s shift in his stand on the PDAF, popularly known as the pork barrel, constituents from Dumaguete and other areas in Negros Oriental posted comments on the social networking sites, Facebook and Twitter, that “people should not be fooled” by Aquino’s pronouncement.
Many comments on these sites are saying that the pork barrel will just be getting a new name, while others are doubtful that the “reforms” as suggested by the President will be realized.
Bustillo, one of those actively helping out, along with the Silliman University Student Government’s Committee on Students’ Rights and Welfare, in Monday’s anti-pork barrel protest, reiterated his call for the public to attend Monday’s gathering to show solidarity to the national movement for the abolition of the PDAF and to have lawmakers involved in the scam investigated.
Monday’s activity will not be a rally, neither will it be tainted by political color or advocacy groups as everyone is enjoined to come as an individual taxpayer, he said.
The “pocket picnic” is set at 9 a.m. at the Rizal Boulevard with students, members of the academe, local government officials, civil servants, non-government organizations, people’s organizations, church-based groups, the media, civic clubs and other members of the community expected to participate. (PNA)
