Perennially Jobless
Susan delivers books to schools and stores in Metro Manila. Other women her age who joined the Sona protests are perennially or newly jobless. Protesting workers of lingerie maker Triumph International, who were recently told by their German boss that they would be out of jobs by August, took shelter from the rain under a waiting shed.
Editha Reyes, 47, jobless “most of the time,” didn’t bother to take shelter at all. Drenched by the rain but still cheerful, she said she enjoys going to a rally because she gets a lot of ideas and learns a lot here. She hails from an urban poor community in Sta. Ana, Manila.
With her were two youths and an old yet sprightly man who had stripped off his wet shirt. Romeo Cunanan, 62, has been a taho (soya bean curd) vendor for 35 years. He took a break on the day of Arroyo’s Sona to protest her lies and “illegitimate” leadership. He explained that he belongs to a mass organization in Manila and they often join protest rallies.
Cunanan is a Kapampangan like Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In fact, his relatives live near Gloria’s hometown. But he still wishes to oust Arroyo, because “many have lost their jobs during Arroyo’s presidency.” He cited his three children. “They have jobs for less than six months only, always less than six months each time.” His children were apparently contractual workers.
As a taho vendor, he shared the worries of some call center agents in Makati who were his suki (frequent buyers). “They are worried of being sacked after every six months in the job.”
Other Groups
Past dancing drenched youths were members of Migrante. Two men, both 47 years old with family members working overseas, were shaking their heads over the “malicious” attempt of breakaway organizations from Bayan and KMU to hold a program near the already ongoing Kontra-Sona program.
“They blocked the flow of traffic in that part of Commonwealth, which organizers of Kontra-Sona rallies and the police had previously agreed as ‘open area’ for vehicular traffic,” Migrante’s Bong Butera and Abner Tadeo said. Though they said they understand that the “other groups” are also free to protest, it had been agreed before that they should be in another part of Commonwealth closed off for vehicular traffic.
One of them blamed Senator Mar Roxas for having negotiated with the police to let the other group hold a program near Bayan’s ongoing program. But the other group managed to hold only a brief program. Being fewer and lacking in speakers, they soon melted away.
Nearer the stage past the contingent of dancing health professionals were young gays from Batasan and Manggahan in Commonwealth. Balong, a 23-year old homosexual who sells vegetables when not in rallies, said he and his fellow gays joined the protest Sona to “fight for our rights.”
“Though we’re gays, we wished to have our rights respected, too,” said Balong. His companions who work as all-around beauticians in salons agreed with him. Also, they hoped the government would bring down the prices of basic goods. “As a vendor of vegetables, I know from experience that rising prices always turn off buyers. It is always bad and sad whenever I have to throw away wilted unsold vegetables.”
All of them had repeatedly gotten themselves drenched under the rain.
Under Surveillance
Near a media network’s van, a retrenched employee of a big telecom firm pointed to a pair of CCTVs at a Meralco lamppost 20 meters from the Kontra-Sona program. He said one of the cameras can zoom into anyone; another, a dome camera, can have up to four cameras underneath and can survey the whole scene. Both can record everything. “Most likely it is recording everything,” he said. In the past, as sideline, he had been tasked to install similar contraptions. Remotely operated, these cameras are usually installed for surveillance, he said.
By five in the afternoon, some of the grade school children who had laughingly joined the rally since morning have gone home. A seven-year old girl who surveyed Gabriela’s colorful quilt of people’s demands such as education, housing and food instead of cha-cha, told us early in the morning that she joined her mother in the Sona protest because “GMA is bad. Inaaway niya kami. (She quarrels with us.)”
When, after a brief dry spell it rained heavily again as Arroyo’s speech wrapped up in Congress, more rallyists finally took shelter. Others started going home. “Even the heavens are crying over her lies,” said a woman rallyist who splashed off to her friends before giving her name.
An office girl, talking with a friend while on the footbridge and surveying what remained of the rally’s “really huge attendance from hours before,” asked her toothless friend: “Could GMA have ordered cloud seeding to bring down this heavy rain?”
