Authorities enforcing the lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic have warned labor groups against holding mass actions on Labor Day, but Malacañang says they may “protest online.”
Well, that’s exactly what some activists, stuck in their own homes because of the community quarantine, have in mind.
In a Palace briefing on Thursday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said “I’d like to remind them that under the enhanced community quarantine, physical gatherings are still not allowed. So you (militant groups) can still protest online if you want to.”
“Then let’s carry the fight online,” said the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition. “How? Do a selfie holding a placard with your concerns, face mask. Post it in your social media account (Facebook or Twitter) using the #AyudangSapatParaSalahat; #BalikTrabahongLigtas, [and] #Mayday2020,” the group said.
“Streets on Labor Day remain closed. But protest online is not prohibited,’’ the group added.Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) plans to take it a little further, urging workers to hold a “noise barrage” by banging their pots and pans in the safety of their homes.
“Workers! We can still celebrate Labor Day even with social distancing,’’ the BMP said. “Put up a poster of our demands outside our homes and together bang our pots and pans from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Record it on video, post it on social media and send it to the BMP FB page.”
Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said workers could just wear “red face masks, red shirts, red armbands.”
“We can’t emphasize enough the urgency of [the] government to provide immediate relief to all workers. From the President’s report in the fifth week of ECQ, only about 300,000 were given financial aid out of 2 million displaced workers,” KMU chair Elmer Labog said. —JULIE M. AURELIO AND TINA G. SANTOS