Pork barrel has been so viral these days to the ears of every Filipino. This can be seen or heard on television, radio, and to any other media news source in the country. But first, what is your understanding about the term Pork Barrel and how does it correspond to the Philippine Government? Are you the type of person who seeks the innermost core behind a certain issue or one of those individuals only made fun going with the flow?

Either way, it is very important that we should always keep our minds open and to be extra vigilant of the current issues by which our country is facing right now. This Pork Barrel issue is not the one we almost see in our dining table that we make love to eat. In the Philippines, a Pork Barrel is now a term used of government allocated funds to be given for politicians and their constituents in exchange for their political support or agenda.

It was then revealed that the Filipino Legislators are allocated with a very huge amount of annual national budget at about 200 million US dollars for each senator and 70 million US dollars for each representative in a program which they called Priority Development Assistance Fund. Although, the term pork barrel is originated to an appropriation of government which normally spent for localized projects or primarily to bring money funds on representative’s district.

Last Monday (Aug. 26), a big outrage was occurred at exactly the same date of our National Heroes Day with hundreds of thousand Filipinos gathered around the streets having their rallied protest against Priority Development Assistance Fund scam that involved Janet Lim-Napoles and the total abolishment of this so-called Pork Barrel politics.

FYI, the Philippines is currently ranked 105 overall in Transparency International’s corruption index which is considered to be one of the worst performers in East Asia.

The Filipinos elected President Benigno Aquino III not because he is a son of the late former presidents of the Philippines but it is because he showed sincerity of his anti-corruption platforms campaign that he promised to every Filipino. Today, the entire Filipinos are now asking the beloved president to fulfill his promises he once said.