This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com).
Vol. VI, No. 20, June 27, 2006
Militants Inch Closer to Mendiola to Denounce
Killings
BY JHONG DELA CRUZ Some 3,000
protesters successfully outflanked a police blockade on yet another
attempt to hold a protest rally at Mendiola. Elements of the Manila
Police District set up a blockade at the corner of Earnshaw and Legarda Streets
but failed to prevent the protesters from going through Gastambide St., a stones
throw away from Chino Roces Bridge, where they held a program. The protest rally was held
in the wake of the filing of the second impeachment complaint filed Monday by
concerned citizens and civil society groups, supported and endorsed by the
opposition, at the Office of the Secretary General of the House of
Representatives. Bayan Muna (People First)
Rep. Teddy Casiño said the protest rally was also in support of the filing of
the impeachment complaint, which charged the president with culpable violation
of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes and
betrayal of public trust. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,
who is in Rome to visit Pope Benedict XVI, came under fire when she ordered the
release of P1 billion to beef up the government counter-insurgency campaign. Bagong Alyansang Makabayan
(Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) and its allied organizations denounced the
order saying, “Mrs. Arroyo has given the go-signal for more killings and greater
impunity” in the guise of flushing out the insurgency to usher in developments
in the countryside. The Pope reportedly praised
Arroyo for signing a law abolishing the death penalty but this, according to
Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes is a farce as rights violations step up as
evidenced by the spate of killings victimizing mostly activists and journalists. Human rights group
Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) recorded 690
activists killed under the 5-year term of Arroyo. Of this number, 360 were
members of militant groups. Reyes said Arroyo’s
declaration of an “all-out war” against the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)
and its armed wing, the New Peoples Army (NPA) is being undertaken not only in
the countryside where the CPP-NPA is waging a 37-year old rebellion but also in
Metro Manila. “The police do not want to
recognize our right to peaceful assembly to express our grievances,” he said
adding that they should be allowed to hold their program at Mendiola since
Arroyo is away. “Arroyo is not in
Malacañang, who are they protecting?” he said. He also said the city
government of Manila failed to act on the protesters’ application for permit to
rally filed June 20, which under a court ruling is considered approved.
Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
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Posted 6:45 p.m., June 27, 2006