Groups say no turning back on SONA protests
Various progressive and sectoral groups have no intention of backing out from their united protest actions on the day of President Duterte's State-of-the-Nation Address July 27 amid the ban on mass gatherings.
Representatives from the groups came together in a virtual media briefing to make their voices heard against the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) memorandum reiterating mass gatherings are prohibited.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Secretary General Renato Reyers Jr. said quarantine guidelines should not be weaponized and used to prevent peaceful assembly.
”Dapat igalang ng PNP ang karapatang magtipon at kalayaang magpahayag. Madaming dahilan at lubhang kailangan na may physical protest tayo sa Lunes (The PNP should respect our rights to assembly and freedom of expression. There many reasons and it is badly needed we make physical protest on Monday),” he said.
Lawyer Aaron Pedrosa of Sanlakas argued there was nothing illegal to hold public demonstrations even in this time of pandemic.
“This gag order has no basis in law and under the Constitution. Tinatanong kung i-dedefy ba natin ang (We are being asked if we will defy the gag order), there is nothing to defy kasi wala po ‘yang basehan (because it has no basis),” he said.
Pedrosa asserted that the 1987 Constitution supersedes the DILG advisory on the COVID-19 inter-agency task force policy.
They were joined in the briefing by other representatives from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, iDefend, Movement vs Anti-Terrorism (MATA), NAGKAISA, Youth Act Now, PM Coalition, Karapatan, and Concerned Artists of the Philippines, among others.
Other opposition personalities were also present, including human rights lawyer Chel Diokno, activist-nun Sister Mary John Mananzan, and former Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman.
They have organized several activities for what they called the "People’s SONA" to express their opposition against the recent passage of the anti-terror law, shutdown of ABS-CBN, and some policies of the Duterte administration.
These include the on-ground "#SONAgkaisa" protest at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus instead of on Commonwealth Ave. leading to the Batasang Pambansa complex in Quezon City.