Bayan to hold protests in Philippines, US

Police block leftwing activists from going near the US Embassy. ERWIN AGUILON/Radyo Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—Leftwing group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said Friday it would hold a series of protest actions in the Philippines and in the United States to condemn the “neo-colonial relations” of the two countries, its head said.

“Aquino’s visit to the United States is the culmination of months of meetings, negotiations and discussions for increasing US troop presence in the country and reaffirming unequal economic and politico-military relations,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.

“Aquino and US President Barrack Obama are expected to once again reaffirm PH-US special ties which are nothing more than neo-colonial relations,” said Reyes.

He said Bayan members in the US would hold protest actions in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and San Francisco on Friday (Saturday in Manila) as President Benigno Aquino and Obama meet at the White House.

In Manila, Reyes said Bayan will lead a march from Mendiola to the US embassy in Roxas Boulevard Friday.

Reyes said that Aquino is “grovelling” for economic and military aid in exchange for serving as a military outpost of the United States in Southeast Asia.

“The US, meanwhile, has made a mockery of Philippine sovereignty as its supposed ‘visiting troops’ have become permanent fixtures in the country,” he said, citing the January 3 announcement of the US on “rebalancing its troops towards Asia.”

“Aquino is expected to trumpet his administration’s alleged gains in good governance, particularly in the removal of the Supreme Court Chief Justice. He will use this to beg for more economic and military aid from the US. The US government will in turn require the Philippines to be more subservient to US dictates,” he added.

Reyes decried as “hypocritical” Aquino’s complaint about China’s incursions in Philippine territory while welcoming and allowing the permanent presence of the US military in various parts of the country.

Bayan said the Philippines might get as much as $30 million in military aid this year, almost triple what it received last year.