Left eyes ‘people power’ vs Aquino

Teddy Casiño. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Activists outraged by the Mamasapano incident are mounting a mammoth rally to demand President Aquino to take full responsibility for the botched police operation in Maguindanao on Jan. 25.

The protest action will be held on on Feb. 25, the 29th anniversary of the Edsa revolt that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos and installed his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, to power.

“It’s not a coup d’etat or an armed revolt. It’s People Power,” said Bagong Alyansang Makabayan spokesperson Teddy Casiño of the activities planned by a broad coalition of militant, church, youth, artists and civil society groups angered by the bloody Maguindanao clash between police commandos and Muslim rebels.

He said the swirling coup rumors were only being spun by Mr. Aquino’s allies who want to “douse cold water on the protests.”

One of the activities is “an interfaith prayer and symbolic human chain” starting at the gates of Camp Crame, the headquarters of the Philippine National Police in Quezon City, all the way to the Edsa shrine on Ortigas Avenue.

In a statement, the activists demanded justice for the 44 Special Action Force troops, 18 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters and six civilians slain in the top-secret operation to arrest two international terrorists, including Malaysian bomb-maker Zulkifli bin Hir or Marwan, who was killed by the government commandos.

The activists said the botched operation compromised the peace process with the MILF and threatened to spoil the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

Students in Metro Manila and other parts of the country are also planning to walk out of their campuses next week to show their dismay over the alleged cover-up on the Mamasapano operation.