Anti-pork barrel protest set on National Heroes Day
Screen grab from the Facebook event page
MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - Anti-pork barrel advocates are set to gather at the Luneta Park on August 26, National Heroes' Day, and are using social media to rally participants to their cause.
It started out as a simple idea. Friends Arnold Pedrigal, Peachy Bretana, and Zena Bernardo-Bernardo created a Facebook event page to gather like-minded people who want the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel scrapped.
The gathering, scheduled on August 26, aims to gather one million people to assemble at the Luneta Park for a "massive pocket picnic."
The event invitations calls on "ordinary, tax-paying people" to show "government (that) they answer to us. Tayo ang boss dito!” (We are the boss!)
The event also states that there will be no banners, no political colors, and no speeches.
The event invite was created on Saturday afternoon, August 17. As of this posting, more than 4,500 Facebook users have signified their willingness to join the event.
Overwhelming response
Pedrigal said the event was inspired by artist Ito Rapadas’ Facebook post that urged Filipinos to march against the pork barrel.
According to Pedrigal, Rapadas posted the following statement:
“What we need is a MILLION PEOPLE MARCH by struggling Filipino taxpayers- a day of protest by the silent majority that would demand all politicians and govt. officials (whatever the political stripes, color they may carry) to stop pocketing our taxes borne out from our hard work by means of these pork barrel scams and other creative criminal acts."
"Peachy shared it in her wall in which she suggested to have a Martsa sa Luneta on Aug 26 to coincide with the Araw ng mga Bayani. Peachy's post was then shared by Bernardo Bernardo which I also received. I then suggested creating an event in FB to invite more people," said Pedrigal.
"After less than 12 hours, we saw the sudden surge of people who would like to join,” Pedrigal told Rappler.
Rapadas was surprised at the speed of the reaction online. He told Rappler in an email, "I've been reading the anger and outrage on my social media feeds for several days now. And I share the same frustrati
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