In 2021, democratic organizations sustained their demands for the reactionary state to provide adequate aid to all sectors affected by the economic crisis and pandemic. In May, they established the Ayuda Network which spearheaded the campaign to call on Congress to ensure the allocation of adequate funds for aid. Part of the said network is the 10K Ayuda Network of the urban poor sector with around 200,000 members.
Since February, various groups mounted more then 30 picket protests in front the Congress, in Mendiola in Manila, and in front of various government agencies to demand aid. Similar campaigns and mass actions were also mounted in other regions. In the enacted national budget for 2022, only ₱5 billion was allocated for economic aid, far lower compared to the ₱206.7-billion budget for aid in 2020.
The major mass actions this year also focused on the demand for aid. These include the rallies during Duterte’s last SONA, Women’s Day in March, Peasant Day in October, Andres Bonifacio’s birth anniversary on November 30, and the International Human Rights Day on December 10 with more than 5,000 participants.
Since February, for seven days in 17 weeks, seven lawyers representing 37 petitions against the Anti-Terrorism Law fought for the repeal of the said law. During the hearings, petitioners and democratic groups mounted pickets in front of the court. Groups also protested in July to mark the first anniversary of the repressive law.
Nearly seven months after the first hearing, the Supreme Court issued a decision in favor of the said law, excluding two minor provisions.
In the entire year, democratic groups kept up the call to dismantle or defund the NTF-Elcac, Duterte’s civil-military junta. Successive pickets were mounted in front of the Senate and Congress in September during the deliberation of the national budget. From the ₱28-billion budget proposal for the said task force, the allocation was initially slashed to ₱4 billion. In the final budget however, the agency was allocated ₱17.1 billion, nearly the same amount as its ₱19-billion budget this year.
Progressive groups criticized the NTF-Elcac and its red-tagging and suppression campaign against them. Starkest of the atrocities caused by this campaign is the killing of nine activists and arrest of six others by state forces in Southern Tagalog on March 7.
Sectoral struggles
In 2021, Ang Bayan was able to document more than 500 protests across the country. The highest number of protests were mounted in Metro Manila, followed by Southern Tagalog. Protests were also continuously mounted in various cities including Baguio, Angeles in Pampanga, Naga in Camarines Sur, Calamba in Laguna, Bacolod in Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Cebu, and Davao.
Notably, health workers spearheaded by the Alliance of Health Workers mounted at least 25 walkout protests and pickets to demand benefits and protection of their welfare. Youth groups and teachers also protested to demand the safe reopening of schools. Similarly, farmers in Southern Tagalog, Central Luzon and Cagayan Valley held a caravan in Metro Manila to demand genuine agrarian reform and aid.
There were also protests against continuing extrajudicial killings under the bogus “war on drugs,” and to push for the conviction of Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court. The said court formally opened in June the investigation on Duterte’s crimes against humanity.
Protests were also mounted to oppose oil price increases and skyrocketing prices, demolition, and climate change. Progressive groups also demanded to increase the salary of teachers and government employees, and to end contractualization.
Groups also continuously mounted rallies for academic ease and resumption of public transport, and to oppose privatization and the Duterte regime’s attacks against local cooperatives. Unions and labor associations also opposed the “no vax, no work” scheme.
Community-based campaigns were also mounted against the multimillion reclamation projects in Manila City, Dumaguete City and Cebu, and against offshore mining in Cagayan Valley and Pangasinan.
[Ang Bayan is the official news organ of the Communist Party of the Philippines and is issued by the CPP Central Committee. It provides news about the work of the Party as well as its analysis of and views on current issues. Ang Bayan comes out fortnightly and is published in Pilipino, Bisaya, Ilokano, Waray, Hiligaynon and English.]
https://cppangbayan.wordpress.com/2021/12/24/demands-for-livelihood-and-human-rights-in-2021/
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