Cebu militants on Duterte’s admin: ‘Palpak’
Militants gathered in downtown Cebu City on Monday, July 26, to raise their grievances against President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration. | Pegeen Maisie Sararana
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Militants here called President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration “palpak” because of his failure to especially end contractualization in the country.
But this was just one of the many campaign promises that he seemed to have ignored, says Jaime Paglinawan of Bayan Muna Central Visayas.
Paglinawan’s group also criticized the Duterte administration for its failure to defend its territories. At the same time, they also called on the government to junk the Anti-Terror Law, defund the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and stop the privatization of the Carbon Public Market among others.
“Daghan og kapalpakan labaw na sa iyang pagka-itoy sa Tsina, pagka itoy sa US nga ang kongkretong kahimtang ana nga ang Tsina karon padayung ni-okupar sa atoang mga kayuta-an ug teritoryo sa atoang nasud bisag nidaog ta didto sa International Tribunal,” Paglinawan said.
And if he were to rate Duterte’s five years in office, Paglinawan said, he is giving the president a grade of “zero.”
READ: Groups call Duterte’s last SONA ‘Speech of No Accomplishment’
Cebu militants gathered in downtown Cebu City at around 9 a.m. on Monday to stage a protest ahead of the president’s fifth and final State of the Nation Address (SONA) that was scheduled at 4 p.m. of the same day.
Over a hundred rally participants walked from Leon Kilat Street to Colon Street and then to Plaza Independencia before they started to disperse.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for operations of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), thanked the protesters for not staying on the streets too long.
Parilla said they only gave protesters 30 minutes to occupy the streets to air their grievances against government because gatherings reman risky because of the rise in active cases here.
READ: CCPO appeals to militants: COVID cases rising, postpone rallies
He said that 200 cops were deployed in at least four rally sites in the city starting at 6 a.m. to monitor the gathering of militants and ensure peace and order in these areas.
Parilla said the conduct of Monday’s protest was without any hitches. Everything was in order also because of the cooperation of the militants. / dcb
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