1. There's a lot going, and it's like you're standing in the middle of a crowd and everyone's screaming “Pork!” at you. So GMG, or as Lourd de Veyra suggests, “Google mo, gago!” Wikipedia says this about pork barrel: “...the appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative district.” The derogatory connotation takes its inspiration from US politics history, and “pork barrel politics” means spending for constituents of a politician for political favor.
2. Based on that derogatory definition, maybe it would be too risky for the President to scrap pork, given the things the administration wants the House to pass. I said maybe, yes, sometime when this administration's term is about to end. But then somebody was right, popular opinion wants it abolished now, and no one dares clash with vox populi head on. In no time, the President announces he wants pork gone. Others think it is only being renamed.
3. Maybe the zeitgeist's theme song would be Radioactive Sago Project's “Gusto Ko ng Baboy!” The song's second half rants about the metaphorical baboy—corruption, greed, etc. “Ayoko na ng baboy, man!”
4. The Cebu version of the Million People March only had 3,000. For a moment, in the middle of it, it felt like journalists and photographers make up twenty percent of the crowd. The expectation was that the affair would extend all the way until dusk, and perhaps, there were thousands who were poised to catch up, but the program was cut short because, as the host would announce, the permit to use the Plaza grounds only allowed until 10:30 a.m. But, yes, it was great to see people there.
5. Junior Kilat's Budoy is alive, and at the anti-pork rally at the Plaza Independencia, he transformed into a Zumba performer-slash-instructor.
“Chop the pork! Chop the pork!” sang Budoy. I like artists who create not merely for creativity's sake, but carry their art like “baby Armalite.” You remember Budoy's virtual massacre at illegal arms dealers, “Bratatatatatat! Ako si M-16!”
6. For one moment there, in the middle of the anti-pork rally, I saw people from all walks of life. And funny I was suddenly thrown back to a BIR report that said public school teachers pay higher taxes than doctors and lawyers. There were a bunch of doctors and lawyers in the crowd, and I thought maybe these were the good guys, the ones who pay proper taxes, and are therefore invariably furious at pork.
7. I am a public school teacher, too, and I thought I should be given the chance to speak during the rally. But I heard the host explaining to a citizen on the stage that speeches were a no-no, so I figured that saved me from the chills of talking before a crowd of 3,000. This incurable stage fright, really.
8. Oh, but there were cause-oriented groups, too. The ones that have representations in the House and apparently have also spent away the PDAF. But then I suspect they were there for obligatory “selfie” photos for Facebook. Joking.
9. So Janet Lim-Napoles shows up at the cemetery. Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda who were at the meet-up near the cemetery noticed two women suddenly appearing near the car. He did not notice one of them was Napoles herself. It was like she just appeared out of nowhere. I've seen that movie, and it was called “The Conjuring.”
10. When I grow up I want to be a whistleblower. And so it came to pass that he became a traffic enforcer. The end.
11. It is only in this administrations that we witness a really, I mean really, serious sort of housecleaning as evidenced by thugs carted out of courtrooms on wheelchairs. Critics should be skeptical of their own skepticism. Turning the pork mechanism less discretionary and committing the funds to line budgeting are two great points that I like with the administration's proposal.
12. Go beyond sloganeering. Keep calm and talk pork.