Hundreds of people march to a protest rally at the Philippine financial district in suburban Manila yesterday, to condemn politicians for their misuse of their “pork barrel” funds, referring to money allocated to congressmen and other officials supposedly for their pet development projects but which often are siphoned away for corruption.

DPA/Manila 

Thousands of people yesterday marched in the Philippine capital’s financial district to protest against alleged corruption involving discretionary state funds and to call for their abolition.

Up to 4,000 activists, workers, students, artists and economists joined the protest along Ayala Avenue in Makati City, Manila’s financial centre, where hundreds of police officers were deployed. They demanded that the government abolish all state funds that are subject to discretionary use or allocation by officials in all branches and levels of government, including a multimillion-dollar fund set aside for legislators popularly called pork barrel.

 They called for more discussions on an alternative that “will ensure that public money is strictly and absolutely for the use and benefit of all Filipinos and not just the greedy few.”

 “We challenge all government officials, officers and employees who received, allocated or otherwise made use of these discretionary funds to publicly make an accounting of the same,” they added in a statement.

 In August, some 75,000 people marched to Luneta Park in Manila against the pork barrel after a state audit found that 10bn pesos ($232mn) of the congressional fund were funnelled to non-existent projects and organisations during 2007-09. A businesswoman accused of masterminding the scam has surrendered and been detained after the government issued a bounty for her arrest.

 A complaint of plunder has been filed against the businesswoman, three senior senators and two members of the House of Representatives over the misappropriation. The Office of the Ombudsman will evaluate the case for filing in court.