MANILA, Philippines—Some 100 protesters were barred before noon Tuesday by anti-riot policemen from marching to the US Embassy in Manila where they had intended to voice their opposition to the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Members of the Bayan, Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Gabriela, the International League of People’s Struggle, the Kilusang Mayo Uno, and the Health Alliance for Democracy were prevented by Manila Police District (MPD) civil disturbance management units from reaching Roxas Boulevard and contained the groups at T.M. Kalaw Avenue.
Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes maintained that Clinton’s visit was not that of a friend’s but that of “an imperialist master.”
He claimed that in accepting the visit, “the Philippine government wants to get US support for the Spratlys.”
Reyes further pointed out that the US military presence in Mindanao has no timetable. “They have been here for 10 years. That’s longer than their presence in Iraq,” he stressed.
The groups clamored for the junking of the Mutual Defense Treaty with the US and shouted, “PH not for sale.”
Reyes said the mutual defense treaty with the US, which has been in effect for 60 years, has not been beneficial to the country in the absence of the modernization of our armed forces it was supposed to offer.
“All we have been getting out of it is US military junk,” he stressed.
Gabriela, in a statement, said: “Clinton is not welcome in our country. She is the emissary of US greed and should be greeted with protest.”
Gabriela secretary Lana Linaban said, “Filipino women and the people enjoy no real benefits from the MDT (mutual defense treaty). Instead it is the US that has gained immensely for using the Philippines as its political and military station for securing greedily its economic interests in the Asia-Pacific region.”
She further cautioned against courting US support over the country’s claim on the Spratlys maintaining that the US has more to gain over the dispute.
“The Philippine claim on the Spratlys is at the moment a matter of diplomacy and international law. By intervening in Philippine affairs, the US may well be courting disaster as it acts as agent provocateur par excellence at the expense of the welfare of the Filipino people,” she claimed.
The groups intend to troop to Don Chino Roces (formerly Mendiola) bridge on Wednesday to greet the meeting between President Benigno Aquino and Clinton in Malacañang with protest.