Protesters are dispersed with water cannon as they attempt to force their way closer to the House of Representatives to coincide with the State of the Nation Address (Sona) by Philippine President Benigno Aquino III Monday, July 28, 2014, in Quezon City. People not known to join past protest actions against President Aquino, such as award-winning scriptwriter Ricky Lee and satirist Mae Paner (aka Juana Change), were at a huge rally against the President’s Sona on Monday. AP
MANILA, Philippines—People not known to join past protest actions against President Aquino, such as award-winning scriptwriter Ricky Lee and satirist Mae Paner (aka Juana Change), were at a huge rally against the President’s fifth State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday.
“The people now have a different view of this government. There’s a growing desperation and anger among the people,” Lee, who wrote the script of Nora Aunor’s highly acclaimed movie “Himala,” said of the crowd gathered a few kilometers from the House of Representatives where Aquino delivered his address.
“As long as there are people sleeping on the streets, as long as there’s hunger, the state of the nation is not OK. It’s that simple,” the scriptwriter said. Lee said he supported Aquino in the 2010 presidential election.
Paner joined the protest calling for Aquino’s impeachment, wearing a Filipiniana dress she once wore in an election campaign for him in 2010.
Anticrime crusader Dante Jimenez and about 30 members of the Volunteers against Crime and Corruption were also among the first-timers at the Sona rally.
“President Aquino has failed to realize that the worsening corruption results in increased criminality in our society. We cannot fight crimes if we cannot address corruption,” said Jimenez.
Straight path ends in cliff
“I was ‘yellow’ before,” Paner told the crowd on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, referring to the President’s political campaign color.
“I’m sorry that I supported him. I thought the lives of ordinary people would improve under his administration,” said Paner, a petitioner in one of the three impeachment complaints against Mr. Aquino.
“It turned out that at the end of his straight path is a cliff,” she said.
Paner told the crowd to watch out for her costume change when she goes to the House to attend the President’s Sona. She was among the hundreds of people in the gallery of the House of Representatives as the President delivered his address.
Paner, the comedian known as “Juana Change” who campaigned for Aquino in 2010, stayed behind and attempted to heckle the President during the latter part of his speech.
A member of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) was quick to confiscate Paner’s placard before she could create a commotion. Paner was not kicked out of the event, as she stayed slumped over her seat while the PSG stood eagle-eyed across the aisle for the rest of the affair.
Composer
Another newbie at the rally was composer Monet Silvestre.
He watched the President deliver his Sona speech last year at home, munching on potato chips as if viewing his favorite television show.
But he found himself in the middle of the sea of protesters on Monday, braving the light rains that briefly threatened to spoil the mass action.
Silvestre, one of the convenors of the Abolish Pork Movement, said he decided to join the rally to show his dissatisfaction with the administration and “to protect the future of my children who will inherit this kind of political system.”
He said it was the first time he attended a protest action during the yearly Sona of the President.
“I used to think that (taking your disgust) to the streets is a futile exercise. But marching in the streets and joining the protest is the least I can do as a Filipino trying to fight what I think is right,” he said.
“There is so much apathy and stereotyping in our society now that when you fight for what is right, you are regarded as a militant, a leftist, or activist. But we are all Filipinos. We seem to have forgotten that,” Silvestre said.
It was the second time for Erlinda Baruelo, 60, to join a protest rally, coming all the way from Angeles City.
Aling Erlinda, sustaining herself with sips of water from a soda bottle she cradled, watched her fellow protesters from the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and Gabriela as they held a short program near layers of barricades set up by the Philippine National Police on Commonwealth Avenue several meters from the Ever Gotesco Mall.
“He (President Aquino) should be prioritizing the poor,” said Erlinda, who claimed that she had neither seen nor felt any economic change since.
“All I want to hear from him is that he will give decent jobs to the poor,” she told the Inquirer.
Photo exhibit
Multimedia artist groups Southern Tagalog Exposure and Artists’ Arrest held a photography exhibit right on Commonwealth Avenue, as their way of protesting the Sona.
The exhibit, called “Ligalig: Portraits of Human Insecurity and Public Unrest,” was composed of 25 pictures of everyday Filipinos caught in sociopolitical issues ranging from poverty and labor disputes to environmental degradation and political prisoners, among other issues.
Though the exhibit was behind the protesters’ main stage in front of the Ever Gotesco mall, it still caught the attention of passersby by resourcefully using a parked jeepney as its art space.
“The concept is to expose the realities counter to the Presidential Sona. We want to show the real state of our nation, issues we face that until now have not been addressed by the government,” said photographer Kame Lagang, 23, project coordinator for Southern Tagalog Exposure.
The groups explained they also saw the exhibit as “a tool for telling stories that challenge official pronouncements,” read a tarpaulin poster explaining the photo display.
Biggest protest vs Sona
Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said about 17,000 members of the group and its allied organizations attended the four-hour program in front of Ever Gotestco Mall on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.
But police estimated the protesters at only 6,000. Aquino’s Sona was met by what could be the largest contingent of riot policemen deployed to keep guard against the protesters. Some 2,000 policemen were deployed at the rally site.
Tension engulfed the area around 5 p.m. when about 3,000 protesters carrying wooden placards tried to overrun the phalanx of truncheon-wielding personnel of the PNP’s Civil Disturbance Management personnel.
At the time, Bayan had just concluded its program, which included fiery speeches against the President and the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program from leaders of several militant groups.
Some of the protesters, belonging to the Kilusang Mayo Uno and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, removed the barbed-wire fence and concrete barriers that the police had set up to keep the protesters from getting near the House.
Red-tinted water
Personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection doused the protesters with red-tinted water to prevent them from breaking through the barricade.
Some young men, who Reyes said did not belong to Bayan and allied groups, were seen throwing stones at the police which apparently started the commotion.
At least two of the protesters threw their placards at the policemen as firemen were training their fire hoses at them.
But the defiant protesters did not budge and continued to chant “Oust Noynoy” with their clenched fists.
At least four fire trucks—two behind the line, and two along the center island—trained their hoses on the protesters. The “firing” of the water cannons lasted about 20 minutes as the President rounded up his speech.
Reyes said the protesters decided to get near the barricade as a sign of defiance against the administration. “We will not allow them to treat us like chickens in a cage.”
Police violated rights
Gilbert Boiser, Commission on Human Rights (CHR) director, said the policemen “obviously violated the human rights” of the protesters.
“First of all, they should not have used their water cannons. It’s not right to use that against the protesters. The policemen overreacted. The [protesters] have the right to get near the Batasang Pambansa to voice out their opinions,” he told reporters.
Boiser, who himself was soaking wet after the brief altercation, said the CHR would recommend appropriate charges against PNP personnel led by Chief Supt. Richard Albano, chief of the Quezon City Police District.
“We will call the attention of the police. They promised to observe ‘super-maximum tolerance.’ But they obviously failed to do that,” Boiser said.
Director Carmelo Valmoria, National Capital Region Police Office chief, justified the use of the water cannons, saying things could have been worse.
“We allowed the protesters to hold their rallies the whole day, which they did peacefully. Then they tried to breach the barricade,” he said.
Despite the incident, the Sona protests were still peaceful overall, the Task Force Kapayapaan commander said after the protesters backed off and dispersed voluntarily.
Valmoria said no one was injured and no one was arrested.
Shortly after the rally, sanitation volunteers started to clean up the garbage that the protesters left behind. Fliers and empty food packs were strewn on the westbound lane of Commonwealth Avenue. With a report from Frances Mangosing, INQUIRER.net
RELATED VIDEO
RELATED STORIES
Cops fire water cannons on charging Sona protesters; no one hurt
Leftwing activists clash with police