Militants to protest against APEC, Aquino

From the Visayan Daily Star (Apr 24): Militants to protest against APEC, Aquino

The tight security to be implemented during the two-day Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Bacolod next week will not stop the militants from staging their three-day protest starting Wednesday against the city's hosting of the international summit and the arrival of President Benigno Aquino III.

Christian Tuayon, secretary general of Bayan Negros, said yesterday that the protest is part of their right to expression and freedom of peaceful assembly. He added that the security preparation of the Philippine National Police, the Philippine Army and other law enforcers are “exaggerated”.

More than 2,500 police personnel from police units outside Negros Occidental, are expected to beef up the security of APEC participants from 22 countries.

Tuayon also slammed the government for allotting P4.3 Billion to finance the APEC hosting in Bacolod, which, if distributed to the poor, will enable them to eat three times a day for several months.

He said APEC is dominated by the imperialist United States and is a venue where it can impose its neo-liberal policies that leads to the globalization and liberalization affecting small countries such as the Philippines.

Ireneo Longinos, spokesperson of Kadamay, said they are joining the three-day protest because APEC will not do any good for the urban poor sector.

He also hit the massive demolition of small stores and shanties near the SM City SMX convention center, where the summit will be held calling it a blatant violation of human rights.

For John Lozande, secretary general of the National Federation of Sugar Workers in Negros Occidental said that, instead of giving too much attention to APEC, the government should check on the situation of farmers in the rural areas.

NOT WELCOME

Noly Rosales, spokesperson of Kilusang Mayo Uno, meanwhile, said APEC delegates are not welcome in Bacolod because, since its creation in 1993, it had not uplifted the lives of the working class in the Asia Pacific region.

Rosales said they are protesting the APEC policy on contractualization of labor, wage freeze and no union-no strike policy as part of imperialist policy to squeeze the labor to maximize more profit.

The APEC schedule in Bacolod is from April 29 to 30 and will center on the theme “Disaster Risk Finance-APEC Roadmap for Reselient Economies”.

LETTER OF TERMINATION

The militants will serve a “Letter of Termination” against Aquino on his arrival in Bacolod on Thursday for what they call the various violations he has committed.

They stated in their termination letter that among the violations Aquino has committed were the trampling of workers rights to just wage and secure jobs, committing “treason by acting as puppet of the US that resulted to the death of 44 Special Action Force members of the Philippine National Police”, for “institutionalizing graft and corruption”, negligence in supporting and rehabilitating the victims of typhoon Yolanda, and for allowing the Balikatan Exercises in the country.

Other violations of Aquino they mentioned in their letter were the “never ending” human rights violations, failure to provide basic services for the poor, failure to uphold social justice, abandonment of education for the people, implementation of anti-driver policies, and high taxes.

 

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2015/April/24/topstory3.htm