President Rodrigo Duterte assured protesters they can hold protest actions near the Batasan during a meeting with Bagong Alyansang Makabayan leaders and Makabayan bloc representatives at the President’s Hall in Malacañan Palace on July 18, 2017. (ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Protest organizers estimated some 5,000 persons to join a rally on Monday in time for President Rodrigo Duterte’s second State of the Nation Address.
Sheena Duazo, secretary general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Southern Mindanao Region said the protesters will come from as far as Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte and North Cotabato provinces to raise issues on militarization, martial law, free land distribution, and contractualization.
The protesters will hold a program in Magsaysay Park before marching to Freedom Park. Duazo, who was among the militant leaders who met with Duterte in Malacañang on Tuesday night said they will not call for his resignation. But she said they will challenge the president to implement reforms that will “genuinely” bring change to people’s lives.
Prior to Monday’s SONA, progressive groups are staging protest actions in Davao City. On June 30, indigenous people students and teachers set up a protest camp outside the Department of Public Works and Highways here, which is touted as the “Malacanang of the South.”
The students and teachers of Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon Learning Center Inc and the Mindanao Interfatih Services Foundation, Inc Academy reported cases of attacks against their schools which are tagged as schools of the New People’s Army.
The Lumad students and teachers filed complaints before the Commission on Human Rights 11 on Thursday.
Farmers on Wednesday also filed formal complaints against the military for alleged rights abuses.
The transport sector here also held a transport strike to oppose the government’s plan to modernize public utility vehicles on Thursday. The move, according to Transmission Piston, is a burden to jeepney operators and drivers.
Duazo said they brought to President their concern of intensified militarization since Martial Law in Mindanao was declared last May 23.
Based on the report of Karapatan, 10 people were killed and 335 were illegally arrested in Mindanao from May 23 to July 16.
HRVs Mindanao - May 23 to July 16But Duazo said the President did not give any concrete answer to resolve the issues. She said Duterte told them it is the reality of civil war.
“But we insist that the victims are civilians,” she told Davao Today.
Thousands of protesters are also expected to hold a rally on Monday near the Batasan Complex where the President will deliver the SONA. Bayan leaders handed Duterte a letter expressing their intent to hold a protest during the SONA.
A portion of the letter reads: “the rally will continue last year’s call for nationalist and progressive change.”
“We believe that many recommendations made last year, in meetings with the President and other agencies, have not been acted on. Some recommendations face stiff opposition from economic managers and security officials. Other recommendations have received favorable response but will require consistent implementation,” Bayan said.
During their meeting in Malacañang, Duterte assured protesters they can hold protest actions near the Batasan.
The Police Regional Office 11 said they are prepared for the activities for SONA. In a phone interview Thursday, Police Senior Investigator Catherine Dela Rey, public information officer of PRO 11, told Davao Today there will be no problem in checkpoints for the protesters from other provinces who will join the rally here as long as there will be no violations of the law.
Dela Rey did not say how many police officers will be deployed by the PRO 11 but said they will deploy “enough” numbers of government troops to ensure peace and order. She said they are also ready to provide assistance for the Davao City Police Office should they need more personnel. (davaotoday.com)
