The protestors in front of the Bacolod City Government Center replica.*Ronnie Baldonado photo
About 5,000 protestors, clad mostly in white, demanded an end to corruption, the jailing of corrupt government officials, and the return of stolen funds at a rally in front of the Bacolod City Government Center replica beside the public plaza on Sunday, Sept. 21.
They also vowed to continue the fight against corrupt officials beyond Sunday’s nationwide “Trillion Peso March”.
Fr. Aniceto “Mao” Buenafe, a member of the One Negros Ecumenical Council that organized the protest, said you could see from the more than 5,000 protesters who joined that they came from all walks of life.
The Philippine National Police Negros Island Region who described the Bacolod rally as generally peaceful estimated the crowd at 2,500, and said there were 700 at a similar protest in Dumaguete City.
The Bacolod protestors, who braved the threat of rain, chanted “jail the corrupt” and carried placards that said: “Arrest the corrupt now”, “Hoy kawatan resign (Hey, thief, resign)”, “Corruption kills”, “God provides, no need to steal”, “No to corruption, yes to transparency and good governance”, and “Tama na, sobra na, ikulong na (Enough is enough, jail them now)”.
“Corruption is a moral issue and people are angry, they feel betrayed by our government officials. Something must be done to end corruption and to hold those responsible accountable. The guilty must be jailed,” Buenafe said.
Civil society and the Church should take seriously their role in the country by guarding and monitoring the performance of public servants, he said.
Accountability and restitution is very important, the money stolen from the people must be returned, he said.
The Council of Concerned Citizens will start inspecting DPWH projects in Bacolod City on Monday as a continuing activity of the people’s march for an end to corruption, he said.
Former Negros Occidental Gov. Rafael Coscolluela, who was one of the battery of speakers at the rally, said “It’s time for people to realize the supreme irony – before, we used to say the government cannot abandon the people. Now it’s different – the people cannot leave government to its own designs, we might be robbed blind again”.
The march and rally on Sunday should be taken as a strong message that government credibility is at its lowest, and people will not be as tolerant or forgiving anymore, Coscolluela said.
“We call for accountability to punish the guilty and negligent, transparency to prevent further misgovernance, and civil society engagement with government – not just rallies and rants but real collaboration”, Coscolluela said.
Lawyer Andrea Si, advocate for women and good governance, said “people are justly enraged because we have found out that while most wallow in poverty and floods and the Philippines lags behind our Asian neighbors, crocodiles in government have free access to our treasury”.
“Rich gali ang Pilipinas. I just hope this anger doesn’t die out once there are high profile arrests or the dry season comes and the floods end”, she said, adding that other government departments need to be investigated, too.*