Philippines: Guingona, opposition groups to lead protest on November 30

MANILA — Various groups led by former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Jr. are expected to converge at the Liwasang Bonifacio and march to Mendiola on November 30, Friday, the birth anniversary of Filipino revolutionary Andres Bonifacio. Organizers say that the rally will come out with the call for the “rejection of a morally bankrupt government.”

Among the groups expected to join are the Concerned Citizens Group, the umbrella formation Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), the United Opposition (UNO), Union of Masses for Democracy and Justice (UMDJ), Peoples Movement Against Poverty (PMAP), the National Council for Concerned Volunteers (NCCV) and various lawyers groups and church-based formations.

A separate unity statement has been signed by Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, Archbishop Oscar Cruz and Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez and the above groups on a similar theme of moral bankruptcy in government.

Groups are expected to come together at the Liwasang Bonifacio and then proceed to Mendiola for a short program before peacefully dispersing. Several thousand participants are expected to join the protest action. Organizers believe they should be allowed to reach Mendiola after Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim announced that he will allow protest actions in the Chino Roces Bridge on holidays and weekends.

The unity statement reads “we cannot allow the pain and ruin of the Filipino. We cannot have a nation without a soul, a government without morality. We must unite! We must struggle for Truth! Justice! For Meaningful and Fundamental Change!”

November 30 will mark the first time since the May elections that these anti-Arroyo groups are united in a common protest action after corruption scandals erupted last month involving the President and her close associates. Mass actions are also expected in several major urban centers around the country to mark Bonifacio Day.

Bayan hopes to mobilize some 5,000 protesters to join up with the broad action. Bayan will march from España Avenue in Manila and head to Liwasang Bonifacio.

“November 30 is the birth anniversary of the hero Andres Bonifacio, leader of the Katipunan. Let us revive the nationalist and fighting spirit of the Katipuneros as we struggle against a fascist and corrupt regime. Let us fight the poverty, human rights abuses and corruption that have characterized the Arroyo regime,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr. ###

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