About a thousand people staged a street protest in the Philippines on Wednesday in the second internet-fuelled demonstration in three weeks against alleged large-scale corruption by members of parliament.
The rally at a Catholic shrine featured a religious mass to oppose “pork barrel” allocations given to legislators, which protesters condemned as a major source of graft.
“We’re just ordinary Filipinos who want to hold a vigil here. We are here to call for the abolition of the pork barrel system,” protest leader Junep Ocampo said.
He and a small group of friends had sent out the call for the march via the popular social network Facebook a week ago.
“We’re surprised at the power of social media. It was just a call: let’s go to Edsa,” Ocampo said, referring to one of Manila’s main highways, the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue.
The highway had been the site of huge “people power” street protests that ended the 20-year rule of the late president Ferdinand Marcos that was tainted by allegations of massive corruption and human rights violations.