A Day of Rage
Photo Essay on the State of the Nation
July 25, 2005
As President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo delivered her fifth State of the Nation Address (SoNA)
July 25 at the House of Representatives, Filipinos around the country and
abroad were delivering their own SoNAs.
TEXT BY ALEXANDER MARTIN
REMOLLINO
As
the air-conditioned chambers of the House of Representatives reverberated
on the morning of July 25 with the cheers of the congressmen who had filed
an amended impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
– then set to deliver her fifth State of the Nation Address (SoNA) in that
very hall – nearby Commonwealth Avenue was flooded by a long and thick
crowd of ralliers calling for an end to the U.S.-Arroyo regime and the
installation of a democratic people’s council in its place.
Engr. Mon Ramirez of
Agham (Association of Science and Technology Advocates for the People)
would later say the crowd was a kilometer long. But length’s not all.
Rally organizers would peg the crowd size at 80,000 while police placed it
at 60,000.
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Along Commonwealth Avenue the flags
would mingle with a giant effigy of a gecko’s body with Macapagal-Arroyo’s
head. The point was that the President clung to power like a gecko,
unmindful of the calls for her exit from office. The effigy would
later be burned, and the President would get a multitude of
thumbs-down signs. |
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As
was done at Commonwealth, so did other
protesters in Baguio City some 246 kms. away.
The Baguio protesters burned a similar, though much
smaller, effigy. The little green effigy crumbled in flames
while ralliers did an Igorot dance. |
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In Davao
City far south of the archipelago,
rage appeared to be the mood of the day, as shown by the faces of the
leaders and speakers as well as those in the audience. One Kilusang Mayo
Uno (KMU or May First Movement) rallier would be caught by the camera,
looking on in anger while listening to the speeches.
But
the SoNA protest was not just a Philippine affair: it was an international
event.
In Toronto,
Canada, members of the Filipino
community would stage a picket and condemn corruption and human rights
violations of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime while calling for the
establishment of a transition council. Some would even bring their
children along, like five-year-old Tommy who gamely brandished a placard
shouting for Macapagal-Arroyo to resign.
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In Hong Kong, the ralliers would affix
their signatures on a banner showing
a “fake passport” of the President while
calling for the ouster of her government. Bulatlat |
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