Official Statement

Bro. Eddie C. Villanueva

                                                                24 August 2013

Bro. Eddie: be a hero on National Heroes Day, join Million March to pray

Be a hero on National Heroes Day by standing up for the nation through prayers.

This was the call issued by Bro. Eddie Villanueva even as he asked participants in Monday’s Million March to declare the day as National Day of Prayer for Repentance and Humility.

“We are calling on all leaders of various pillars of society to do the most heroic act — lead their respective sectors in heeding God’s admonition for His people to seek His face,

humble ourselves and pray and turn from our wicked ways. Let us go out to Luneta not only to register our indignation to corruption but also to do the most important thing — pray,” Villanueva said in a statement.

He said the expose of the P10 billion pork barrel scam could be God’s way of revealing the extent of corruption in different government agencies.

But he also reminded Filipinos not to prejudge people merely on the basis of unverified reports.

“Everyone has to be given opportunity to air their side and prove their innocence.

But we need to be vigilant and continue registering our protest against abuses in the disbursement of public funds,” Villanueva, leader of Bangon Pilipinas and chairman emeritus of Philippines for Jesus Movement, said.

He said even the recent floods could be a message both to the authorities and the citizens.

“Parang wala nang katapusan ang vicious cycle ng pagbisita ng kalamidad sa ating Bayan…ang pagkasawi ng buhay at pagkawasak ng bilyon-bilyong kabuhayan ng bansa. Ang paggastos ng bilyong budget na pantapal lang sa emergency needs ng bayan dapat nagamit sa tuloy-tuloy na economic development and long-term flood control ng bansa,” (There seems to be no end to the vicious cycle of calamities in our country…the lives and the billions worth of livelihood lost.

The billions used for emergency needs could have been used instead for continuous economic development and long-term flood control all over the country),” Villanueva said.

Villanueva lauded President Aquino for abolishing the pork barrel and for committing to impose measures to ensure proper disbursements.

He said that while he is not personally against the release of development funds, a mechanism to protect it from unscrupulous individuals whether in the legislative or executive branch should be put in place.

“It is not realistic to say that development funds or pork barrel be completely abolished. Even if you abolish the release of pork barrel in legislative, the executive will still need to release it to fund infrastructure and other projects. If it is abolished completely, what will happen to the urgent infrastructure projects especially in far flung provinces?

We need to give the President the opportunity to prove his seriousness in implementing stricter measures for disbursements of these funds,” Villanueva added.