Activists hit ‘misogynist’ Duterte on International Women’s Day

SAN PEDRO CITY, Laguna, Philippines — Militants in the Southern Tagalog Region conducted rallies and a dance mob on Sunday in commemoration of International Women’s Day.

The main program in the region this year was set at the Taytay Kalayaan Park in Taytay Rizal, with the traditional flash mob called the “One Billion Rising” to highlight the event.

Aside from women’s rights issues, Gabriela-Southern Tagalog Secretary-General Shirley Songalia said they were rallying against administration’s infrastructure projects viewed as threats to communities’ livelihood in Southern Luzon, among them the Skyway and LRT extension projects and the construction of Kaliwa Dam in Quezon and Rizal provinces.

The group also hit the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act, which they said had provisions that might stifle democratic rights.

In a phone interview, Songalia said they were preparing a 9×8-foot mural showing an image of President Rodrigo Duterte. Text quoting the President’s previous “misogynist” remarks would be painted on the mural — for instance, a part of the President’s April 2019 speech when he mentioned about “shoot(ing) in the vagina” a captured female rebel.

The activists would burn the mural during the program this afternoon, Songlia said.

Gabriela said they were expecting about 500 to participate in Rizal, while a few more hundreds elsewhere in the region for the simultaneous rallies at 3 p.m.

In Laguna, youth activist group Anakbayan was also set to hold a rally at the Calamba Crossing in Calamba City.