Cebu militants to push through with SONA protest despite ‘threats’ of arrest

A protester in Cebu City calls for the junking of the anti-terror bill during a rally held along Gorordo Avenue in his June 2020 photo. |  CDN Digital File Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Militant groups here will push through with their plan to hold pre-SONA (State of the Nation Address) rallies without having to necessarily converge in a particular area in Cebu City that remains under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).

Jaime Paglinawan, chairperson of Bagong Alyansa Makabayan in Central Visayas (BAYAN-Central Visayas), said they are now exploring the possibilities of airing their concerns against the Duterte administration either through street protest or using the online platform.

“We’re still finalizing everything, whether we will be conducting them on the streets or online or both. But definitely we will be pushing through with our rallies, and these will be decentralized,” Paglinawan said in Cebuano.

Paglinawan said that what is important is that they are allowed to speak to especially give Cebuanos a real picture of what four years under President Rodrigo Duterte was like.

“In our protest-rallies, we will counter the SONA of President Duterte especially since the government failed in multiple aspects in responding to the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic. We will be showing everyone what’s the real state of our nation,” he added.

President Duterte is set to deliver his SONA this Monday, July 26,  to mark the end of his four years in office and the start of the fifth year in his six-year presidency.

Law enforcers earlier warned against the conduct of street protest while the threat of the pandemic remains.

Read: Ahead of SONA protests, DOJ affirms right to assemble

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, for his part, said that that the right to peaceably assemble is a right of every Filipino that is enshrined in the Constitution.  He said that all government officials and employees swore to “uphold and defend” this right subject only to reasonable regulation.

In their planned protest actions, Paglinawan said they will be calling on the Duterte administration to prioritize public health emergency and the need to provide medical, not militarized, solutions to the pandemic.

“We will also continue our fight against the Anti-Terror Law, and rally our support for the 19 petitions submitted to the Supreme Court which aim to scrap this unconstitutional act,” Paglinawan said.

The BAYAN-Central Visayas chairperson was part of the Cebu 8, the term used to collectively describe the eight individuals who were arrested last June for holding a protest-rally against then Anti-Terror Bill in front of the University of the Philippines Cebu (UP Cebu) in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City.

Read: Police arrest protesters in Cebu City for violating GCQ guidelines

Paglinawan said that their earlier arrest will not stop them from holding more protest actions against the Duterte administration.

He added that no amount of threat or intimidation will prevent them from calling out the government “for its failure in addressing he concerns and the demands of its constituents.”

“It’s not right that we will just follow blindly everything the government and its agents say and just duck our heads even if this is clearly disadvantageous to everyone,” he said.

“We have to defend our democracy, our rights to air out grievances as enshrined by the Constitution. Our actions are much needed now that the nation has clearly entered the dark times,” he added. / dcb