Tens of thousands of Filipinos protested on Monday in Manila, Philippines against government corruption and called for the scrapping of the corrupted development fund known as the pork barrel.
According to Associated Press, pork barrels allow lawmakers to allocate funds for certain projects in their districts, most of which an August 16 government audit found to be questionable. In fact, about $141 million of the pork barrel fund was allocated to these projects and aid groups.
The peaceful four-hour rally, now dubbed the “million people march,” was largely organized on social media, New York Times reports. Outrage over government corruption was fueled in part by the lavish lifestyles of many politicians in the Philippines, a country where almost a third of the population live on just over a dollar a day.
The Wall Street Journal writes that Philippine President Benigno Aquino III vowed on Friday that he would abolish the pork barrel funds after calling reports of corruption angered the public. Aquino called these allegations “shocking” and stated that for next year, funds for projects would come from the national budget.