Filipinos from all walks of life marched at Rizal Park (formerly Luneta Park), a popular public park in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, on August 26. The peaceful social media-initiated million people march was organized in protest of corrupt practices of Filipino legislators and for the abolishment of a controversial fund. In the past month, the “pork barrel scam” has been making headlines in local news and social media platforms as well.
Protesters brought various props, placards and other visual aids to express the message that they wanted to send to the Philippine government. An estimated hundreds of thousands of people trooped to the park despite the threat of rain.
A very important day
The protesters went out on this important day for the abolishment of the pork barrel worth 346.8 billion pesos. August 26, 2013 is a national holiday in the Philippines in observance of National Heroes Day. The organizers took advantage of the holiday as well as the significance of the day to execute the peaceful protest. This landmark event showed that sharing of information via the Internet can lead to successful mass protest. In this case, the participants made it clear they have had enough of thievery and dishonesty from public officials.
The participants demanded abolishment of the pork barrel fund and put corrupt government officials to justice. They also demanded that the money be rechanneled to social services.
Initiated by social media
What has been dubbed the #millionpeoplemarch started with a social media post from Filipino singer Ito Rapadas. The musician posted a call for protest on Facebook. It was more of a personal response to the scam that has been featured all over the news rather than a call for action. His friends and eventually friends of friends reposted until it spread like wildfire and became a call for action. One of the organizers, Peachy Bretana said that she did not expect it to be a big event, which is what it evolved into. Information was disseminated primarily through Facebook and Twitter posts.
The online campaign has spread beyond Metro Manila and became a national campaign. The Rizal Park event happened simultaneously with similar mass protests in other key Philippine cities.
Serious allegations
The pork barrel scam involved billions of pesos of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allotted to members of the Philippine Congress. The funds have reportedly been channeled through fake non-government organizations (NGOs) and went straight to the conspirators’ pockets, instead of being used for community development projects benefiting the Filipino people.
#scrappork campaign
Joining the protests were business groups, professionals, mothers, fathers, students, activists and advocates. Aside from the Manila turnout, simultaneous protests were held in Cebu City, Bacolod City, and Iloilo City from the Visayas region, as well as in Cotabato City, Iligan City, Davao City, and General Santos City in Mindanao.
Filipino communities abroad held their own ground. In Los Angeles, Filipinos gathered around the Ritz Carlton where the daughter of Janet Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the scam reportedly owns a property. In Rome, Filipinos launched a signature campaign.
Photo Credits:
Paulo Alcarazen on Facebook
Neneng V. Dy on Facebook
Fung Yu on Facebook
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