Christian groups gear for anti-pork rally "bigger" than Million People March

Although they come from different churches, leaders of evangelical and born-again Christian groups in the country have banded together to organize what they claim to be a bigger anti-pork barrel rally than the August 26 "Million People March."

Representatives of Christian groups led by Jesus is Lord (JIL) founder Eddie Villanueva announced Friday that they are going to hold a massive prayer rally against corruption on October 25 at the Quirino Grandstand.

Villanueva said that the born-again churches are aiming to gather 1.5 million Filipinos to attend the massive event, which will fall on the same date as JIL's 35th anniversary celebration.

Despite being organized by born-again Christian leaders, Pastor Ed De Guzman of the Intercessors for the Philippines said the event will be an inter-faith gathering open to "all Filipinos who care about their country."

"The prayer rally is not exclusive to born-again Christians alone. In fact, we will be holding talks with certain officials in the CBCP (Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines) next week to try to convince them to endorse it to Catholic believers as well," he said.

Last week, CBCP announced its support for the anti-pork vigil dubbed as "Edsa Tayo" held on Wednesday.

The rally, which was held at the Edsa Shrine, failed to draw a huge crowd similar to the one gathered at Luneta last month for the Million People March.

In a statement, the born-again groups said the rally will be a call for citizens and politicians to turn to God for guidance in solving the problem of corruption which it said is "very pervasive" in Philippine society.

"[The prayer rally is] a call to repent of the failings of all citizens great and small throughout the land. We will take this time to call all our political leaders, from the highest to the lowest humble themselves [and] forsake their self-willing ways," they said.

The grand prayer rally will be the culmination of the series of activities launched by born-again groups in the country in condemnation of the corruption exposed by the pork barrel scam.

On Sept. 15, born-again churches around the country will begin their 40-day prayer and fasting for the Philippines. Six days later, on Sept. 21, an inter-faith rally dubbed as the "Jericho March" will be held in Luneta as a "warm up" demonstration in preparation for the prayer rally on October 25.

Villanueva said he is hopeful that mass actions such as the upcoming prayer vigil will prompt politicians involved in the pork barrel scam to "show remorse" and own up to their crimes.

Referring to politicians, Villanueva said: "May oras pa sila para magsisi sa kanilang kasalanan, magbalik-loob sa Diyos at i-tama ang kanilang mga mali by revealing everything they know about the scam. Mapapatawad sila ng Diyos but they should also suffer the consequences."

Activist and comedienne Mae Paner, who was present at the event, expressed optimism that the October 25 prayer rally will be an even bigger mass gathering than the Million People March.

"Nakita naman natin yung success ng Million People March na dinaluhan ng marami kahit hindi siya organized ng iisang group lang. Eh mas lalo na ito (prayer rally) na organized ng maraming grupo," she said. — VC, GMA News