15,000 join ‘historic’ march near Batasan; protest take various forms

Anti-government groups march along Commonwealth Avenue to St. Peter Parish uj Quezon City during the State of the Nation Address of Preside t Rodrigo Duterte.
INQUIRER PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

They staged an umbrella rally, rang bells, delivered homilies, lay down on streets, occupied a highway and threw tomatoes at an effigy to protest the policies of President Rodrigo Duterte on the day he delivered his third State of the Nation Address (Sona).

In Baguio City, activists held an umbrella rally at 11 a.m. on Monday, chanting “Rains mean nothing to a nation that continues to fight” at Igorot Park.

They marched despite intermittent rains to drum up what they described as the “true state of the nation reeling from poverty” due to new taxes imposed by the administration.

At a parish church in Quezon City, a few kilometers from the Batasan complex where the President gave his Sona, some administration critics gathered to say: “We are not scared of you.”

Bishop Emeritus of Novaliches Antonio Tobias said in a homily the faithful would no longer be held hostage to the “climate of fear” that the administration had nurtured through a policy of killings.

Tolling of bells

Before the Mass, Senators Risa Hontiveros and Antonio Trillanes IV led the tolling of bells to commemorate the thousands of extrajudicial killings under the administration’s war on drugs.

“Remember this, Mr. President: The Church and history itself were built on the blood of martyrs. As more blood flows, the forces against you will only grow stronger,” Tobias said.

Thousands of people on Commonwealth Avenue sent the President a similar message.

The protest that stretched from St. Peter’s Church to Ever Gotesco Mall gathered representatives from opposing political colors and various religious groups, waving banners of various hues and carrying placards.

‘Historic’ march

Organizers described the rally as “historic,” both in number and in composition. Police placed the number of protesters at 15,000.

Ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who participated in the “United People’s Sona,” said the rally should serve as a wake-up call for Mr. Duterte.

Sister Mary John Mananzan said it was like a “miracle” seeing the people from different colors coming together.

At the rally were groups, such as Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Movement Against Tyranny, Babae Ako, Tindig Pilipinas, Akbayan, Rise Up, Promotion of Church People’s
Response, Women’s Human and Legal Rights Bureau, and the Coalition for Justice.

Other issues raised were the proposed Charter change (Cha-cha), maritime dispute in the West Philippine Sea, and unkept promises such as abolishing contractualization and the increase of wages for teachers and government workers.

Turning their backs

At San Antonio de Padua Parish Church in Quezon City, some 100 people in white turned their backs on what they called the President’s “antipeople” policies in a symbolic protest.

In his homily at St. Peter’s Church, Bishop Broderick Pabillo said the Church wanted to know Mr. Duterte’s specific plans to give justice not only to the 23,000 victims of killings but also to their more than 100,000 orphaned relatives.

Among those who attended the Mass was Australian nun Patricia Fox, who is facing deportation.

Groups sympathetic to Mr. Duterte, such as Tropang Bernabe and Friends of Bong Go, congregated on IBP Road, mustering a crowd of around 7,000, according to police.

Bicolandia

Members of Condor-Piston, Gabriela, Anakbayan, Bayan and Kilusang Mayo Uno and other groups converged in Naga City’s Plaza Rizal, Legazpi City’s Pinaglabanan Shrine, the Capitol in Sorsogon City, Freedom Park in Masbate City, Elevated Plaza in Daet and Freedom Park in Virac.

They demanded, among other things, a national minimum wage, land for farmers and justice for the victims of extrajudicial killings in the war on drugs.

In Legazpi, Gabriela members chanted “Duterte is afraid of women!” Some of the protesters later lay down on the streets as expression of indignation against the administration.

The Visayas

Protesters marched on the main streets of Iloilo, Capiz, Bohol, Cebu and Aklan and Bacolod City.

In Iloilo City, they threw tomatoes at an effigy of the President driving a train and running over the poor.

Similar protests were held at the Banga-New Washington junction in Kalibo and the Roxas City Bandstand in Capiz.

In Bacolod, groups and individuals launched a campaign dubbed “Bagting Contra Cha-cha.”

In Bohol, militant groups gave the President a failing grade. Groups in Cebu City also gave him a failing mark, as they burned his horned image.

Separate protests were held by fishermen on Bantayan Island and by farmers’ groups in Toledo City.

A group of protesters led by Sanlakas marched on Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City.

Mindanao

In Davao City, groups carried a huge streamer, which read, “Oust: Rodrigo Duterte” and “Traitor!”

More than a hundred “lumad” and supporters occupied a highway in Koronadal City to demand the reopening of their schools.

About 300 protesters in Cagayan de Oro called for an end to martial law in Mindanao and to the oppression of the poor and indigenous peoples.

—Reports from Jhesset O. Enano, Krixia Subingsubing, Matthew Reysio-Cruz, Jaymee T. Gamil and Jodee A. Agoncillo in Manila; Kimberlie Quitasol, Stephanie M. Florida, Michael Jaucian, Rey Anthony Ostria, Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Carla P. Gomez, Leo Udtohan, Rosalie O. Abatayo, Jessa Mae Sotto, Zana V. Magto And Jigger J. Jerusalem in the provinces; and Fate Colobong And Ianna Agus