AOP stands for and supports universal respect for human rights and human dignity, as we believe that it is the duty of the state to uphold and protect the fundamental rights of its people including freedom of expression and assembly.
Heckling is culturally embedded in Philippine politics. It is popularly construed as disturbance of a current activity through interrupting, questioning or shouting at the other party as in the case of disrupting a speech of a political figure.
It is interesting that such accusations are lobbed only at protest actions that are led by the uneducated and the unwashed. Do you hear similar opinions regarding 1986 EDSA or EDSA Dos? It is interesting how quickly we forget the pivotal role of the youth in changing the course of history. Would you call Martial Law student activists as simply “cute” or “impulsive”?
Drought is avoidable only if these farmers have access to water services. Poverty and hunger is preventable only if the people have the equal share and access to resources. Disaster is preventable only if the government will provide and do its obligations to its people.
The State in collusion with its mining capitalist-conspirators deploys military and paramilitary forces to ensure elitist economic gains from mining and mineral explorations. As a result of militarization, the Lumad had to be displaced from their ancestral lands. And born out of this is the formation of culture of resistance.