In a pastoral letter read in masses yesterday, the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro called the PDAF scandal a “grave immoral act” that must not be condoned.
“We are deeply indignant over the scam knowing that our people are barely catching their breath just to live in very poor conditions; and yet some of our legislators have the nerve to hoard the coffers of the people into their own pockets for self-aggrandizement,” the pastoral letter signed by Archbishop Antonio Ledesma and Social Action Director Fr. Nathaniel Lerio read.
The archdiocese urged citizens to join today’s protests against the pork barrel system. It also called for the passage of the Freedom of Information bill to ensure transparency and accountability in the use of public funds.
Aside from Ledesma, other Catholic bishops have also called for the abolition of the PDAF.
In a statement, the Pagbabago People’s Movement in Southern Mindanao said Aquino was “not listening sincerely to the call of the people” [for the abolition of pork].
“This is because Aquino has the presidential pork barrel for himself amounting to P450 billion. Triple the amount Napoles has stolen, and it will still not be half of what Aquino has,” the group added.
Pagbabago said rechanneling the pork to basic social services will render the privatization of hospitals, schools and public utilities irrelevant.
“For instance, state universities and colleges need P56 billion for its needs. They only received P39 billion. If Aquino only allots a portion of his pork barrel for public education, even if as low as a tenth of his share, it will do so much to improve the declining state of education in our nation,” the group explained.||| |||buy vilitra online with |||
“If only this huge amount of people’s money goes genuinely to the people’s mouth and hand, not to the pockets of corrupt officials – to alleviating poverty, to building classrooms, to pump prime public health system and to provide much needed social services – how helpful it would turn out to be”, said Fr. Christopher Ablon of Karapatan-Northern Mindanao.||| |||buy zithromax online with |||