Over 18,000 Sona protesters march across the nation

MANILA, Philippines—At least 18,000 protesters on Monday took to the streets in the Visayas in one of the biggest protests against President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) in the region in recent years.

Church and religious groups, vendors and businessmen, marched with students, government employees, farmers, workers and informal settlers decrying corruption in government and seeking affordable and adequate social services.

The protesters numbered 7,500 in Iloilo province, 7,000 in Capiz province, 2,000 in Aklan province, 1,000 in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental province, and 500 in Cebu province.

Iloilo, Capiz

In Iloilo City, at least 6,000 protesters led by the coalition Abolish Pork Barrel Now Na! and Bagong Alyasang Makabayan (Bayan) filled Iloilo’s  Freedom Grandstand.

Students, nuns and seminarians marched from 7 to 8 kilometers in three assembly points. They proceeded to the grandstand where a program was held.

The protesters wore black and red shirts and carried placards and streamers calling for the scrapping of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) and all forms of pork barrel and decrying high prices of commodities and services.

A separate protest rally was held by Bukluran ng Progresibong Magbubukid ng Pilipinas that was attended by about 1,500 persons.

In Roxas City in Capiz, about 7,000 protesters led by Bayan assembled from Panay town and Barangay Lanot in Roxas City before converging at the city bandstand where a rally was held.

The protesters included victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda who decried the continued delay and lack of assistance from the national government more than eight months after the supertyphoon devastated wide areas in the Visayas last year.

Kalibo, Bacolod

In Aklan, about 2,000 joined protest actions led by Bayan assembled at Banga town and marched for 8 km to Pastrana Park in the capital town of Kalibo.

In Bacolod City, 1,000 protesters joined three separate protest actions, including about 300 employees at the Bacolod Hall of Justice who wore black to “uphold judicial independence.”

Printed on the front of their shirts was a picture of Lady Justice and on the back the words “a working judiciary means an independent judiciary.”

One of the protesters dressed in barong wore a mask depicting Aquino as a human pig inside a prison cell to emphasize that he has public accountability over the DAP issue.

Small yellow piggy banks were also displayed on the stage with paper bills attached to them symbolizing grease money for pro-DAP legislators.

A prayer vigil for integrity, accountability and transparency in public service was held in front of San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City on Monday evening.

While President Aquino was delivering his State of the Nation Address (Sona), a number of Catholic parishioners in Bacolod City held a prayer vigil to “raise awareness on the need for authentic public service.”

In a Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines news report, Fr. Felix Pasquin, San Sebastian cathedral rector, was quoted as saying that public service should be “marked with integrity, accountability and transparency, not with cover-ups, corruption and self-serving agenda.”

Pasquin said the vigil was an “expression of condemnation of the perceived partiality and partisanship in the ongoing government investigation (on the reported misuse of pork barrel funds), and corruption as a whole.”

“At the same time, it’s a movement for hope that through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, our government officials will pursue the common good of the Filipino people,” he said.

Cebu City

In Cebu City, about 500 protesters joined two separate rallies led by militant groups against the DAP, calling for the impeachment of Mr. Aquino.

Protesters led by Bayan-Central Visayas and the transport group, Pinagkaisang Tsuper at Operaytor Nationwide, marched along Fuente Osmeña to downtown Colon Street.

They wore peach-colored ribbons to show their support to the impeachment complaint against the President.

The group called for the scrapping of the pork barrel, including the President’s DAP.

Akbayan Youth and Sanlakas held separate rallies on Colon Street where they asked the President to support the passage of the freedom of information bill.

Pampanga

In Pampanga province, a video alleging human rights violations and fake agrarian reform in the sugar estate taken by the government on orders of the Supreme Court from the family of Mr. Aquino in Tarlac province was uploaded on YouTube days before he delivered his Sona.

The video, titled “Lupa at Hustisya: Hacienda Luisita,” has generated 1,665 views. This was produced by Tudla Productions, Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura and Luisita Watch, and can be viewed through https://youtu.be/2jyAB7So5Yc.

The video, according to its producers, is a “brief report on the implementation of government-mandated land distribution in the historic and highly controversial Hacienda Luisita sugar estate controlled by the family of [Mr. Aquino].”

The Supreme Court ordered in 2011 the distribution of 4,500 hectares in Hacienda Luisita to over 6,000 farmworkers who had agreed to receive shares of stock instead of land in 1989 when the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) was started in the sugar estate. The tribunal canceled the stock-sharing scheme.

In a phone interview, Florida Sibayan, chair of Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala), said the beneficiaries still had no control over farm lots even after the April 2012 final ruling of the Supreme Court ordering the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to distribute the bulk of lands in the estate and the agency’s issuance of certificates of land ownership awards (CLOAs).

Big planters have continued growing sugarcane through the arriendo (lease system), paying P7,000 to P10,000 per hectare to beneficiaries, with village leaders as supposed brokers, according to Sibayan.

“What is clear is that President Aquino did not make true his promise in Sona 2013 that Luisita lands will be distributed to us, farmworkers,” Sibayan said.

Anthony Parungao, agrarian reform undersecretary, said the CLOAs were proof that the ownership of lots had been transferred to qualified beneficiaries.

Parungao said that while the DAR was eager to stop arriendo, it did not have the support of beneficiaries to pin down the planters.

Pangasinan, La Union

Public school teachers in two Ilocos region provinces on Monday staged simultaneous silent protest actions to dramatize their demand for higher salaries.

Marlita Leones, president of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers in the Ilocos, said teachers at Calasiao Comprehensive and Pangasinan national high schools in Pangasinan province, and Damortis and Bauang national high schools in La Union province wore black arm bands to demand higher salaries.

“We are demanding that teachers’ salaries be increased from salary grade 11 to salary grade 15, which is about P25,000 a month,” Leones said in a telephone interview.

“For nonteaching personnel, they should have a minimum salary of P15,000 per month,” she said.

Baguio

In Baguio City, about 100 members of the militant Tongtongan ti Umili and the Cordillera Peoples Alliance marched down Session Road to condemn the President for his failure to solve poverty in the country.

At Igorot Park, the groups displayed papier-mâché pig heads and images of Uncle Sam and the President.

They also performed skits featuring men wearing pig masks being chased by spear-wielding warriors.

In Zamboanga City, Mayor Maria Isabelle Salazar said she was thankful for the President’s “affirmation of assistance for the Zamboanga rehabilitation” efforts. “We are not forgotten.”

Ousted Laguna Gov. Jeorge ER Ejercito said the Laguna Lake Expressway Dike was just a “temporary solution” to the flooding in the province. “This government is too slow,” he said.–Reports from Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Carla P. Gomez, Jhunnex Napallacan and Carmel Loise Matus, Inquirer Visayas; Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon, and Gabriel Cardinoza, Desiree Caluza and Jhoanna Marie Buenaobra, Inquirer Northern Luzon

Originally posted: 6:48 pm | Monday, July 28th, 2014

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