EDSA Revolt remembered: Protests up

Various labor groups have called on the Filipino people to continue fighting for freedom and reject another dictatorship as the Philippines commemorates the EDSA People Power Revolution on Feb. 25, 2020.

A People Power Revolution akin to what happened in 1986 may not be seen in the immediate future, but plans by the Duterte administration to install another dictatorship would enhance a similar movement-building process, according to the Kalipunan ng mga Kilusang Masa or KKM.

The group made its statement even as Philippine National Police Chief Archie Gamboa said any ouster plot against President Rodrigo Duterte would not prosper because it will not have the support of the police and the military.

“That’s what they always say every time the celebration of EDSA is near, there is a report of an ouster,” Gamboa told reporters.”

“They cannot afford it because they don’t have the support of the police and the military.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority will enforce a traffic rerouting scheme along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue and other areas affected by the 34th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution today.

The MMDA will implement area closures on two lanes of EDSA in front of the People Power Monument and the eastbound portion of White Plains Avenue. A two-way traffic scheme will also be observed on White Plains Avenue eastbound.

Members of the Alyansa Tigil Mina, Coalition Against Trafficking of Women in Asia Pacific, Kilos Maralita, Partido Manggagawa, Sentro ng Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa, and Union of Students for the Advancement of Democracy will call on the people to continue fighting for freedom and resisting another dictatorship.

Union members from the beleaguered ABS-CBN will join the protest action to defend press freedom, demand the renewal of their franchise and the as security of the tenure of the network’s 11,000 employees. 

“The Duterte administration’s mounting human rights violations―including extra-judicial killings, attacks on trade unions, peasant and environmental activists, red-tagging, misogyny and now the shakedown against the non-conforming press―all point to a dictator’s playbook. But along this shrinking democratic space is a growing resistance by the basic sectors,” said Kalipunan in a statement.

“The President’s penchant for promoting the culture of killings, his hatred of human rights, relentless attacks on opposition figures and the high-handed shakedown on non-aligned press and oligarchs are a prelude to the establishment of another dictatorship to satiate Duterte’s thirst for more power and to buttress his own sense of security and public order.”

The commemoration of the 1986 People Power Revolution comes under the shadow of repressive policies rolled out by the Duterte administration in recent months, the labor group said, adding “these include Executive Order 70, which objective of ending the local communist insurgency has resulted in raids to legal organizations’ offices, mass arrests, red-tagging, surveillance and profiling, intimidations and harassments, among other things.” With Joel E. Zurbano