MANILA, Philippines – Senator Francis Pangilinan on Monday expressed solidarity with the Hong Kong protesters who called on their government to uphold democracy.
“As Filipinos face the most shameless displays of state power, we look to the young and not-so-young people of Hong Kong in humility, re-learning the timeless lesson of unity against tyranny, unarmed but for the audacity to speak the truth together,” Pangilinan said in a statement.
“From this dark part of the world, we raise our voice in solidarity with the young people of Hong Kong,” he added.
The opposition senator further said that the Hong Kong youth’s courage to insistently push for their “fundamental right to determine the course of their future” and their “collective life as a people” inspires Filipinos who also “face the most brazen contempt of our most basic human right to life.”
“From this your neighbor, we can only lend our voice in echo of your call for freedom and justice,” Pangilinan said.
He then thanked the people of Hong Kong for being an inspiration to those who also experience oppression around the world.
“To the people of Hong Kong who are laying everything on the line for the values we all hold dear, thank you for your peaceful protests, for outwitting our common enemy might with right, for showing the way for all oppressed people everywhere,” Pangilinan said.
Last Friday, authorities arrested prominent Hong Kong activists as protesters planned another mass rally over the weekend marking the fifth anniversary of Beijing’s rejection of a call for universal suffrage in the semi-autonomous city, a decision that sparked the 79-day Umbrella Movement in 2014.
READ: Hong Kong police round up activists ahead of rally
Two of the movement’s leaders that were arrested were Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow — both are well-known among the city’s youth, AFP further said.
The city has been gripped by a months-long of political crisis with increasingly violent clashes between police and protesters.
The rallies started as a protest against a bill allowing extraditions to mainland China but turned into wider calls for democracy and police accountability. /gsg