Yahoo Southeast Asia Newsroom/European pressphoto agency - Philippine President Benigno Aquino III (C) greets supporters after delivering his State of the Nation Address during a joint session of the 16th Congress in Quezon City, east of Manila, Philippines, 22 July 2013. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in the Philippines on 22 July to demand better jobs, more inclusive growth and the protection of human rights to coincide with President Benigno Aquino III?s state of the nation address. An effigy of Aquino was burned and eggs were thrown at police officers blocking the main road going to the House of Representatives. EPA/ROLEX DELA PENA
President Aquino shakes hands with congressmen after delivering his State of the Nation Address during a joint session of the 16th Congress in Quezon City on 22 July 2013. Photo from Yahoo! News by EPA/ROLEX DELA PENA.

Dear PNoy,

Nakakagulat naman na ang sikat at pinagkakatiwalaang presidente namin – ayon sa mga survey – ay magsasalita ngayong gabi. At sa sobrang napakaimportante pa yata, mukhang ipe-preempt ninyo ang mga paborito naming telenovela at iba pang palabas sa TV.

Sana ay worth it itong gagawin niyo. Pakisugurado pong kapani-paniwala yung mga sasabihin niyo. Sana ay di mala-telepantasya yung script na babasahin ninyo para sulit naman yung pag-preempt niyo sa mga telenovela. (Sana maging Honesto kayo at ‘wag kontrabida, ok?)

Di po namin alam kung ganoon na kayo kakabado kaya gusto niyong maging Primetime King.  Anyway, buhay po ninyo yan. Sana ay basahin niyo ito para magkalinawan.

That Janet Lim Napoles is now in custody is a direct result of strong public pressure and the Million People March in Luneta and across the country. Had we not marched and told #PNoink that we want heads and pig heads to roll, nothing would have happened.

#PNoink treatment for Napoles

The surrender of Napoles to #PNoink himself and right inside Malacanang was an obvious scripted event aimed at portraying the President

as a man of action and true to his word. But the reverse happened. The people were shocked that Napoles found a way to the most powerful and busiest leader of the country and in the whole process evade a manhunt against her. That #PNoink met her cheapened the presidency and put the President right in the middle of the controversy.

Exactly a year after netizens fought President Aquino to eventually defeat the obnoxious Cybercrime Law, Filipino Internet users today waged another battle that showed the fight last year was not in vain.

Individual citizens and organizations, powered by social media and traditional tools, today held a march at the Luneta involving hundreds of thousands of citizens fed up with President Aquino’s refusal to abolish the pork barrel system.

Crowd estimates from the police say the target one million participants was not reached. Their calculators could only count to 300,000.

The streamers, placards and effigies expressed the outrage of a heavily-taxed citizenry long told that the government has no money for vital social services and the improvement of infrastructure, including flood control and airports.

#ScrapPork campaign reaches the US, with BAYAN USA picketing at the RitzCarlton in Los Angeles, where Jeane Napoles owns an allegedly ill-gotten property.
#ScrapPork campaign reaches the US, with BAYAN USA picketing at the RitzCarlton in Los Angeles, where Jeane Napoles owns an allegedly ill-gotten property.

For as long as we remember, every time we ask the government to do something that is good for the country, the standard answer has been “no way, magtiis tayo, walang pera ang gobyerno”.

And so many or most of us would actually stop asking government for what it should really provide in the first place. Like vital or essential social services from education to housing, flood control to airport upgrades, from OFW protection to suppport for entrepreneurs.

And we work our asses off to heroically fill the gaps, although it is always a herculean effort. Some have to leave the country to get fair opportunities. Those of us in the country endure daily taxation – from gas to electricity, that favorite latte to basic groceries. Everything is slapped with VAT. And then our payslip. Whether you like it or not, government gets a hefty share of the products of your labor.

It is in this context – of a country and people long told by government to suffer and to endure because we didn’t have much – that we have become angry and ready to march when we found out that President Aquino proposed P26-billion in pork barrel for senators, congressmen and congresswomen in his 2014 budget. This is on top of the P1-trillion in unprogrammed, special, discretionary funds – presidential pork! – for himself and his office.