Renato Reyes Jr. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Militant groups are gearing up for protest rallies next week when President Benigno Aquino III will deliver his third State of the Nation Address (SONA).
In a statement Monday, umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said that the last two years of the administration have been all about broken promises “amid the worsening conditions of the people.”
“Behind the rosy statistics and claims of growth is a country that is reeling from unemployment, massive overseas migration, poverty, and underdevelopment,” Renato Reyes, Jr., Bayan secretary general, said.
He said Aquino can no longer blame all of the nation’s woes on the past regime. The rally on July 23, Reyes said, “is meant to make Aquino accountable for the problems brought about by his own regime.”
Bayan said they expect Aquino to flaunt the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona and the good economic growth indicator for the first quarter.
“The people are fed up with empty pronouncements and deceptive catchphrases. Aquino has failed to address the nation’s problems.
Bayan claims that human rights violations, a climate of impunity, poverty, and United States military intervention continue under the Aquino administration.
“The real State of the Nation will not be delivered in the air-conditioned halls of Congress where the President and his allies are gathered. The true state of the nation will be delivered in the streets by the ordinary workers, urban poor, farmers, women and youth,” Reyes said.