Tens of thousands of Filipinos trooped to the Quirino Grandstand in Philippine capital city of Manila on Monday to sign the petition against "pork barrel" system.

The protest rally, dubbed as "Stand Up Against All Pork," aimed to collect about 6 million signatures nationwide to scrap the pork barrel allocation, according to the organizer.

The Priority Development Assistance Fund scam, also called the PDAF or the "pork barrel" scam, is a political scandal involving the alleged misuse of public funds for spending on priority development projects by some members of the Congress and government officials.

Team after team of protesters have swarmed into Quirino Grandstand since Monday morning. They held high placards and streamers with such slogans as "Abolish PDAF, increase health budget", "No to DAP (Disbursement Acceleration Program) " and "No to charter change."

An estimated 22 signing booths, including 17 representing Metro Manila's districts, were set up for the signature drive. Long queues can be seen before many booths.

After signing her name at the Caloocan booth, one of the remotest city in Metro Manila, Divol said the Supreme Court has declared as unconstitutional the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which had become a source of corruption among politicians and officials.

The middle-aged lady said she also opposed the second term of Aquino's administration, because she doesn't feel the life of her family improved much under his rule. On the contrary, poverty incidence remains high, commodity price keeps growing.

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), one of the earliest group arriving at the scene, urged President Aquino to re- examine his position in seeking a second term and of tinkering with the Constitution through his allies in the Congress.

IBP said in a statement that "we call on all our fellow Filipinos to resist this initiative. The reason given by the president that the Supreme Court has overly exercised judicial power is implausible, if not ridiculous."

Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes Jr. said in a statement that "the issue of Charter change and term extension is linked to the pork barrel issue. Aquino wants to escape accountability. He wants to pressure the Supreme Court to change its decision on DAP. He wants to control Congress through the perpetuation of the pork barrel system."

Apart from Metro Manila, thousands of people in Cebu, the second largest city in central Philippines, also took to the street for a signature campaign for a People's Initiative to abolish pork barrel over the weekend. Endi

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