Manila: Church bells across the country pealed simultaneously as part of activities by various groups to dramatise the people’s opposition against a controversial congressional fund, the “pork barrel”.

According to the Catholic-run station Radyo Veritas, dozens of churches from 16 Diocese and five Archdioces of the Catholic Church as well as houses of worship of the non-Catholic National Council of Churches of the Philippines (NCCP) and the Agliplayan Church took part in the coordinated activity.

The bells pealed at 1pm on Friday and continued for three minutes.

The group, the Church People’s Alliance Against Pork Barrel had called on various dioceses and parishes for a simultaneous ringing of bells for three minutes to signify the people’s protest against the pork barrel as well as its other form, the Disbursement Acceleration Programme (DAP) and corruption.

The convenors believed that the coordinated action would eventually force the government to do away with the pork barrel and the DAP — believed to be a chief source of corruption in this predominantly Roman Catholic country.

“The ringing of bells signals our deep attachment to the cries and struggles of the poor for justice, peace and prosperity. The prophetic ringing of bells represents a call to the leaders of our country to repent and stop deceiving the people with criminal schemes means to steal what belongs to them,” said Father Ben Alforque, convenor of Church People’s Alliance Against Pork Barrel.

Pork barrel, formally known as the countrywide development fund and the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) is allegedly being misused for political purposes to promote patronage politics as well as to line the pockets of corrupt politicians.

Critics said another congressional discretionary fund, the DAP is also in essence a pork barrel by another given name.

The convenors said the recent expose on the scandalous pork barrel scam, DAP, and the use of false Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) as conduits for stolen fund “are a manifestation of massive robbery of people’s treasure chest, the main reason why the alliance continues to demand truth, justice and accountability”.

“The practice has been so embedded in the system of governance and cover-ups. The righteous path as promised [by President Benigno Aquino III] has become an occasion for pilferage. The immoral acts and the structural corruption have torn down [a] sense of uprightness and decency, unheedful of the advice, ‘You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the officials, and subverts the cause of those who are in the right’,” the coalition said.

Likewise, they further lamented how corrupt practices robbed the poor of their dignity and rights and the means to a better life.

“Public office becomes a private business enterprise or an investment to corner expensive projects for profit from supposed services to the people, especially the poor,” it said.

In the face of these realities, the group demanded truth and accountability from public officials.

It called on the government to abolish pork barrel, rechannel funds directly to social services like education, health and housing, make accountable those involved in the scam, declare DAP as unconstitutional and demand presidential accountability in violating the Constitution, the fundamental law of the land.