PHILIPPINES: ESCALATING ANTI-WAR PROTESTS

2003: DISSENT IN THE PHILIPPINES IS ESCALATING
report by: jong pairez (IMC-Philippines)

MANILA, Philippines. As the poverty stricken local economy is getting worse as the consequences of war in Iraq had started to take effect by having seen the prices of basic commodities rising up in the sky, the local people cannot help themselves but to sow dissent across the major cities in the country to protest this kind of phenomena.

Spontaneous as well as organized protest actions have been occuring since before the first U.S. military strikes in Baghdad, Iraq caused so much awe and shock across the globe. These actions was triggered by the plunging of the local currency into the verge of defeat against the dollar. In the western part of the Philippine archipelago- the visayas, local public transport jeepneys staged a three day strike that paralyzed the city, to protest the sky-rocketing prices of gasoline. In the central capital part of the Philippines, around 10,000 people from various sectors (farmers, workers, students, church peoples, urban poor communities and childrens) staged a demonstration infront of the U.S. embassy in Manila on March 22.

Meanwhile, two days before the M22 large local protest in the metropolis, urban poor community activists staged a direct action protest by throwing red paint bombs at the U.S. embassy, aiming for the target of the U.S. embassy seal. The dispersal became violent as the local police retaliated against the symbolical protest action done by the local urban poor community people. Fortunately, none of them was arrested because they quickly escaped the police fascist wrath.

Handful of protest actions in various ways have also been seen around the metropolis after the M22 demonstration. Right now, PEACECAMP- a coalition of local activist orgs advocating peace and justice is planning to held a massive demonstration that is going to happen this coming April 1, 2003. This huge demonstration is to pressure the Government to withdraw their support on the U.S.-led coalition of the willing. Also, the demonstration will push the government to take deed of their obligation to give the Filipino people the genuine services that they deserve e.g. water, electricity, food, etc. instead of wasting their time and effort in supporting the U.S. led war in Iraq.

The demonstration will also demand the government to STOP the militarization in the countrysides, they also call for aborting the governments' local war campaign against the Moro Islamic Libeation Front (MILF)at the southern part of the Philippines, since many rural people are been displaced and experienced trauma by this vicious war in Mindanao.#