Not Just in Manila

While newspaper reports focused on protests held along Commonwealth Avenue, the road that leads to Congress where President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo delivered her State of the National Address (SONA), there were other protest actions in various parts of the country, involving tens of thousands of people and all demanding the removal of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from Malacañang.

BY Tyrone Velez, Jetty Ayop, Grace Uddin, Maureen Japson, Lino Interino III and vince cinches
Bulatlat

Davao: Sleepless at the park

Other Mindanao cities: ‘Mindanao Republic’ not the solution

Tacloban City: Lighting torches for human rights

Cebu City: ‘Martsa sa katawhan’

Legazpi City: Cold rain, fiery speeches

Tabuk: Kalingas against Gloria and mining

Davao: Sleepless at the park

It was a sleepless night for activists of Davao in southern Philippines as they held what they called  “Lamayan ng Bayan” (people’s wake) at Davao City’s Rizal Park on the eve of the SONA.

This, they said, was not only to symbolize their mourning and grief over the failed Macapagal-Arroyo presidency. They needed the ceremony to show that President Arroyo's reign is finally over for the people.

Delegates streamed into the streets by the hundreds late at night and early morning the next day, peaking at 9,000 during the street march held in time for the SONA delivery. The protesters came from as far as North Cotabato, Davao Del Norte and Del Sur, Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental. The two-day event and cultural program was organized by the Coalition of Davaoeños for Truth (CD Truth).  

Contrary, however, to a real wake where mourners would normally talk about fond memories of the deceased, the words uttered on stage that night were an outpouring of anger and discontentment. Each of the leaders of various sectors, party list groups, and alliances took turns counting the ways why President Arroyo should step down from power.

One of the speakers, Datu Monico Cayog, a leader of the Bagobo tribe at the Mt. Apo Ranges, said his people nowadays hardly eat three meals a day.

"Sa una makapalit pa kami og bugas ug uban pa, apan karon ikaduha sa usa ka adlaw na lang mokaon; ang uban sa amoa, ika-usa na lang."  (In the past, we can still buy rice and other needs, but today, we only eat two times a day. Some of us even eat only once a day.)

Aside from this, Datu Monico said, they have become as confused as ever now on where else to settle as huge areas of their lands are set to be converted into industrial sites.

Datu Monico also cited struggles of their fellow indigenous peoples, particularly the Ata-Manobos who continue to battle against the dam and mining projects in their areas and who are now faced with gross human rights violations in the course of fighting for their ancestral lands.

He blamed this on the Arroyo administration's economic policies which are being implemented against the indigenous peoples by force in the guise of counter-terrorism.

Meanwhile, many professionals also joined the protest wake to register their grievances.
The alliance of health workers, professionals and students in Davao City called PURGA or Health People United for the Removal of Gloria Arroyo distributed statements during the wake, scoring the Macapagal-Arroyo presidency for, among others, its fiscal policies, budget prioritization and privatization.

Calling the nation "sick and dying," the group pointed that Arroyo's presidency hardly provided for the basic services for its people, such as health. The group prescribed only one cure for the ailing Philippines, and that is for President Arroyo to step down from power.

Exactly while the president was delivering her SONA, the protesters marched through Davao's main streets. Dramatizing a burial, three coffins were carried through the march, each marked by the following: "Mindanao Republic," "Constitutional Succession," and "GMA."  The coffins were later burned during the program.

Juland Suazo, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan acting secretary general for Southern Mindanao, explained that the act symbolized the people's sentiments against these three factors which they see as impediments to the people's demands for a "Transition Council." He said the transition council is the "remaining viable" option for the Filipino people today.

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Other Mindanao cities: ‘Mindanao Republic’ not the solution

It wasn’t just Davao City where people expressed anger against the Macapagal-Arroyo government during the SONA. Whether braving the rains in Cagayan de Oro, or causing traffic in the streets of Butuan, protest actions all over key cities in Mindanao drew large crowds to call for Macapagal-Arroyo’s immediate remove.

In Cagayan de Oro City, not even the heavy rain could dampen the spirits of 3,000 protesters led by the Gloria Resign Network as they took to the streets. Human rights lawyer Beverly Selim-Musni of the Initiatives for Peace in Mindanao (In Peace Mindanao) told reporters, “I could not spare a minute of my precious time to listen to a bogus SONA rendered by a bogus president. I am with the masses, drenched and wet by the afternoon downpour, because these are the faces of the genuine state of the nation.”

In Caraga, around 6,000 people trooped to the streets in Butuan City, causing traffic to halt for half-an hour. Simultaneously, rallies were staged in Surigao City, Tandag and Mangagoy gathering another 4,000. 

Various alliances composed of middle forces spearheaded the rallies.  There were the Agusanons’ Movement for Gloria’s Ouster (AMGO, Cebuano term for Hope);  Committed Surigaonons for Ouster of Gloria (COSOG) with members coming from the IBP, health workers, and barangay officials among others; Youth Demanding for Arroyo’s Removal (Youth DARE) which comprised 15 organizations from 13 schools in Butuan City; Church People’s Alliance (CPA) comprising Iglesia Filipina Independiente, United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Missionary Sisters of Mary, Jesus is Lord, and Church of Christ of the Latter-Day Saints. 

Protest actions were also reported in General Santos City where one rally drew 1,000 people. 

Meanwhile, rallies in Marbel, South Cotabato; and the cities of Iligan, Dipolog, Pagadian and Ozamis in Western Mindanao gathered a total of 1,500 people.

The Gloria Step-Down Movement (GSM) in Mindanao said the protesters in Mindanao totaled around 25,000.

The mobilizations here centered on blasting Arroyo’s call for charter change. GSM’s statement said, “Not cha-cha, not a Mindanao Republic can solve the problem that is Gloria.”

They also lambasted Arroyo’s claim of achieving “permanent peace” and development in Mindanao, saying that the president is responsible for launching war against the Moro and indigenous peoples and allowing mining firms to ravage more communities.

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Tacloban City: Lighting torches for human rights

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Cebu City: ‘Martsa sa katawhan’

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Legazpi City: Cold rain, fiery speeches

Despite the heavy rainfall, thousands of members of militant groups carrying flags, streamers and placards marched seven kilometers from the Ninoy Aquino Park in Daraga town, Albay to the Pinaglabanan monument in Legazpi City. They held a program, branding Macapagal-Arroyo a “fake President” and demanded her to step down

Led by Bayan-Bicol, the protesters were composed of peasants, students and other sectors.

“Ang mga tao, ang bayan ngayon ay lumalaban! Natutong lumaban dahil sa kahirapan! (The people are now fighting. They learned to do so because of poverty.).” This was one of the marchers’ favorite chants.

Beverly Quintillan of Bayan-Bicol told Bulatlat that if ever Macapagal-Arroyo steps down or is ousted, the militant group will never support Vice President Noli De Castro. Quintillan said De Castro will simply continue the wrongdoings of the present president since they are allies.

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Tabuk: Kalingas Against mining and Gloria They may live in a remote province in northern Philippines and are hardly reported by the national press but Kalingas are joining the clamor for the incumbent president’s resignation. Various sectors in Kalinga province last week declared their support for the snowballing call for the president’s resignation. In a Manifesto of Unity, representatives of people’s organizations, non-government organizations, political and religious groups and private citizens denounced Macapagal-Arroyo for her involvement in the “Gloria-gate” scandal on the alleged electoral fraud and graft and corruption of her family and some officials. The authors of the Manifesto said that Kalinga’s natural resources must be used and developed for the province, and not for the profit of foreign capitalists. Foreign mining firms have targeted Kalinga for exploration, and government has divulged plans to reopen the Batong Buhay Mines.

DANCING GMA AWAY: Baguio protesters perform a dance while displaying improvised gloves pushing for GMA removal. Photo by Noel Godinez

Government has also approved one Application for Financial and Technical Assistance (AFTA) which covers 81,000 hectares of the province’s total land area. Six expansion applications were also approved covering 40,379 hectares of the province.

With this, the organizations moved to vigorously campaign for the scrapping of the Mining Act of 1995, which was declared constitutional by the Supreme Court earlier this year. Government has recently approved the Magnao Mining Exploration permit.

The organizations also accused the President of government neglect, and condemned her for the sham land reform for landless peasants at Hacienda Madrigal in Rizal town, also in Kalinga. They also denounced the suspension of the irrigation project at Alliog River in Tabuk, which local residents depend on a living.

The organizations that signed the Manifesto included the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA)-Kalinga, Timpuyog dagiti Mannalon ti Kalinga (TMK), Samahan ng mga Mag-aaral ng Kalinga, Binodngan People’s Organization (BPO), Bayan Muna-Kalinga, Kalinga Community Council of Elders, United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), Anakbayan-Kalinga, Kalinga Bodong Council, Cordillera Bodong Administration and the Episcopal Church of the Philippines (ECP)-Tabuk.

CPA’s Markus Bangit said that these organizations still plan to firm up their ranks soon through a broad movement. He said that other organizations and sectors have expressed their interest to join. With reports from AT Bengwayan of Northern Dispatch / Bulatlat

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