MANILA, Sept. 5, 2013— The head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines expressed solidarity with the upcoming prayer vigil in Quezon City against the pork barrel system.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, CBCP president, said it’s a good thing that people are coming out to fight alleged irregularities in the government.
“It’s about time that people manifest their own conviction,” Palma said. “The people have already organized. Ours is an expression of solidarity.”
After a nationwide protest rally held last month, various groups will again hold a prayer vigil at the Edsa Shrine, the location of two People Power revolutions that resulted in the ouster of two presidents.
The gathering aims not only to press the government to abolish the now infamous Priority Development (PDAF) or commonly known as pork barrel.
Archbishop Palma said the Church has been clear about its position against the issue, citing the recent statements issued by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas and the CBCP’s National Secretariat for Social—Justice and Peace (Nassa).
“All of these reflect the sentiments of the CBCP. It’s very obvious in principle… We want the PDAF to be stopped. Stop and find ways and means to reach out to the poor in many other ways,” he said.
Villegas earlier said that the alleged pork barrel scam and other anomalous transactions in the government must lead the people “into action”.
Both Tagle and Nassa also called on the Aquino administration to heed the people’s call to abolish the pork barrel. (CBCPNews)
