Oct 29 Former SC chief justice leads anti-pork campaign in Mindanao

KIDAPAWAN CITY -Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Puno has urged people in Mindanao to take part in their ongoing campaign that called for total abolition of ‘pork barrel.’ Puno, speaker in a Mindanao-wide forum attended by thousands of church people here, said their ‘fight’ against pork barrel did not stop even if the Supreme Court declared it ‘unconstitutional.’ Kasi, may motion for reconsideration pa sila.Di natin alam kung ano ang gagawin ng Supreme Court sa motion na ‘yan. (They still have a motion for reconsideration.We don’t know how the Supreme Court would act on it,” Puno said. Puno has urged people to be ‘vigilant’ now that the Congress has yet to pass the budget next year. Hindi pa natin nakikita kung susundin nga ba ng Kongreso ang desisyon ng Korte Suprema patungkol sa pork barrel at sa DAP sa paglalatag nila ng budget, ” he explained.Puno, together with the Church Peoples’ Alliance against Pork Barrel, urged thousands of members of the United Methodist Church coming from different churches in Southern Philippines to sign a petition that called for pork barrel abolition. The signatures, according to Jen Meneses of the alliance, would be submitted to Congress as proof that the Filipino people are against the pork barrel. The group, she stressed, is calling for the passage of the Peoples’ Initiative Bill to abolish the pork barrel system. Meneses said several churches in the Philippines, including the Roman Catholic Church, have joined the signature campaign. Puno said that the bill, if passed, would free the Filipino people from corruption in the government.