Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume III, Number 43 November 30 - December 6, 2003 Quezon City, Philippines |
GMA
Snubs 20,000 Signatures vs Baguio Casino Despite
a petition signed by more than 20,400 of Metro Baguio residents and hundreds of
protesters outside the Presidential Mansion, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
just stayed long enough with the leaders of the petitioners for a photo
opportunity and left without giving them any indication if she agrees with their
position. BY
LYN V. RAMO Pres.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo poses with protest leaders for photo-op but cancels
dialogue. BAGUIO
CITY – Despite a petition signed by more than 20,400 of Metro Baguio residents
and hundreds of protesters outside the Presidential Mansion, President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo just stayed long enough with the leaders of the petitioners for
a photo opportunity and left without giving them any indication if she agrees
with their position. The
president was in Baguio to grace the opening of the National Advertising
Congress in Club John Hay and protesters took the opportunity to present to her
the petition and statements against the operation of a casino complex in Club
John Hay and slot machines in the newly opened Shoe Mart (SM) in this city. The
leaders however said the president almost snubbed their group and had it not
been for their insistence and the rally outside the Mansion, they would never
have been given time with the president. Tongtongan
ti Umili Secretary General Voltaire Tupaz said that the President’s aides
“inhospitably maneuvered” to whisk them away even if they were already at
the receiving area of the Mansion. “We
still prevailed and emphatically put across the President the people’s strong
opposition to the casino. We are urging her to exercise moral suasion on the
Mayor and other city officials favoring the gambling complex,” Tupaz shared. Anti-casinoIn
just five days, the Metro Baguio Multi-sectoral Movement Against the Casino
gathered more than 20,400 signatures opposing the casino. In
one of the statements handed to the president, Fr. Andres Cosalan, Baguio
Cathedral’s parish priest, stressed: “We are aware that casino is legal
under Philippine Laws but we also know that given the socio-economic, cultural,
and religious context of Baguio City, a casino will adversely affect the moral
climate of the city and environs. More than profit and riches are human values
and the good of the people.” Councilor Leandro Yangot further said, “It is moral and social obligation of our city officials to follow the will of their constituents. The greater majority of the people do not favor a casino here. Let us do something before the city loses its distinction as education center of the North and becomes a Gambling Mecca.” Mansion
picket The
anti-casino groups included the Couples for Christ, LIFORSA Pastoral Center, TTU,
Organisasyon dagiti Nakurapay nga Umili ti Syudad (ORNUS), Kilusang Mayo Uno-
Cordillera, Bayan Muna, Anakpawis party list, Anak ng Bayan youth party,
Gabriela-Innabuyog, Progressive Igorots for Social Action, Easter College, and
SLU’s White and Blue student publication. “Club
John Hay Casino…pigilan! Pabahay, Trabaho, Kabuhayan, hindi pasugalan” read
the main streamers by the TTU-Cordillera Peoples Alliance. The
presidential car however barely stopped to notice what the messages were in the
streamers. The
group later marched from the Mansion toward Club John Hay in a bid to have their
voices heard by at least Club John Hay authorities, if not GMA herself. The other group, among them Navy base and Camp Allen home-owners, also asked for similar things such as that the lands on which their houses are built - military reservations - be reverted to the state and be awarded to the actual residents. However,
their placards either have an appendage expressing their groups’ support for
GMA or the complete reverse of the people’s anti-casino stand. Their streamers were apparently the reverse of the TTU-CPA
demand, explicitly saying that they wanted Baguio to be in the world tourism
map. That they love GMA and that they are asking her to run in 2004. “Go, go
GMA,” one of their main streamers read. At the Benguet Day celebrationAfter
lunch, Macapgagal-Arroyo delivered a four-minute speech before spectators in the
Benguet Capitol site in time for the Benguet Day exhibits and agro-industrial
fair where farmers among the audience were equally dismayed because there was no
dialogue that transpired either. Incidentally,
peasants from Mountain Province, Benguet, Abra and Ilocos Sur were
simultaneously attending the General Assembly of the Save the Abra River
Movement (STARM) at the Benguet State University in La Trinidad.
STARM marched to the Provincial Capitol where the president addressed the
Benguet Farmers’ Congress and waited for the Presidential convoy in the
Capitol grounds to show her their streamers which read: “Stop Lepanto
Expansion, Save the Abra River Movement! No to the National Minerals Policy,
Scrap the Philippine Mining Act of 1995!” Some even chanted; “Resign! Resign! Resign!” which had the effect of instantly turning the president’s smile into the infamous frown, after realizing that it was a crowd of protesters and not well-wishers. Bulatlat.com/Northern Dispatch Photos courtesy of Cordillera People's Alliance/Ace Alegre
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