The thieves who have stolen government funds at the expense of the suffering poor deserve to be sent to the hottest part of hell, Bayan Muna chair Neri Colmenares said.
Colmenares was among the speakers at the Human Rights Day rally in front of the Bacolod City Government Center replica at the Bacolod Public Plaza Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 10.
A crowd estimated by the police at about 800 joined the march rally themed “Resist Bureaucratic Corruption and Defend the Fundamental Human and People’s Rights”.
Human rights are not only civil and political rights but also economic, social and cultural rights that include the right to health, education, housing and food security, Colmenares said.
However, these rights cannot be fulfilled as funds for social services have been stolen by the corrupt, he said.
The estimated P197 billion per year stolen from flood control projects alone could have built 184,000 houses, 40,000 barangay health units, and produced 6.2 million metric tons of palay, Colmenares said.
Corruption in government has become systemic, with the theft of funds not only involving flood control projects, he said.
Funds intended for roads, school buildings , hospitals and aid to people are also being stolen, Colmenares said.
The Bacolod rally was spearheaded by One Negros Ecumenical Council, Taumbayan Ayaw sa Magnanakaw at Abusado Network Alliance and the Human Rights Advocates in Negros.
SAN CARLOS BISHOP
San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, Church People–Workers Solidarity chairperson, in a press statement issued on Wednesday said “corruption is not simply a breakdown of public morality — it is a direct assault on human rights”.
“When billions in flood-control funds and other public financing are lost, stolen, or misallocated, the poor are deprived of hospitals, food, education, disaster resilience, clean water, safety, and social services,” he said.
“Every peso stolen is a life diminished. Every ghost project is a disaster waiting to happen. Every abuse of our common resources is a sin against the poor.” Alminaza said.
Corruption kills — not metaphorically, but concretely, he said.
“It destroys employment, deepens hunger, worsens disaster vulnerability, and robs families of healthcare, protection, and dignity,” he added.
This massive theft of public funds is a grave moral evil and a systemic violation of the most basic right: the right to live with safety, health, and dignity, the bishop stressed.
Alminaza said as a bishop, he cannot remain silent because “the Gospel compels us to defend human dignity and to expose structures of sin that sacrifice the poor”.
He said many who aspire to power in 2028 are already compromised by the very systems they are called to reform.
“Our moral responsibility, therefore, is not only to resist oppression, but also to transform structures, including political ones, so that public life becomes truly accountable to human dignity and the common good”, Alminaza said.
“Filipinos must stand as one and insist—peacefully, persistently, and courageously—that corruption is unacceptable; that rights are non-negotiable; and that our politics must be re-oriented toward the poor, not the powerful,” he said.
“Let us refuse apathy. Let us protect life. Let us defend one another,” Alminaza said.*