Progressives to stage 'Bagong Pilipinas' protest during SONA 2024

Progressive groups will march and protest during President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.'s 3rd State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 22, Bagong  Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said Tuesday.

In a statement, Bayan said the groups would protest the supposed “duplicity” and “failure of the government” in resolving the people's calls for wage hikes,  decent jobs, and adequate social services.

“Themed ‘Sa Bagong  Pilipinas, Pilipino Lalong Naghihirap!’, the protest will reflect the people’s outrage over the indifference of Marcos Jr. to the worsening plight of ordinary citizens while his government continues to open the country to intensified foreign military intervention,” Bayan said.

Bayan said the featured effigy in the protest would symbolize the  Marcos-Duterte feud as "they vie for power and influence while the rest of the nation is mired in poverty.”

Aside from this, a big ball depicting the Bagong Pilipinas logo and Marcos will be tossed around by  SONA protesters, according to Bayan.

“The ball is ‘Binobolang  Pilipinas’ which refers to the empty promises of Marcos Jr and his  ‘Bagong Pilipinas’ slogan,” Bayan said.

Protest songs and mini-floats would also be featured.

In “The People’s SONA,” protesters will tackle the following issues:

• prices of food and other basic commodities
• escalating conflict in the West Philippine Sea
• violations of human rights and war crimes in anti-insurgency and anti-crime operations;
• the supposed failure to hold former President Rodrigo Duterte to account for his crimes against the people
• Marcos and Duterte political dynasties

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police would deploy around 22,000 police officers to secure Marcos’ SONA.

PNP Chief Police General Rommel Marbil said the PNP would treat protesters with maximum tolerance, but he asked that they not inconvenience the public.

“Ang sabi ko lang naman, 'You can go out for a protest but make sure hindi naman po kayo  nagkakaroon ng inconvenience.' Kawawa rin naman po yung mga tao. That's  the biggest problem po talaga yung traffic created by sobrang deployment din ng pulis, and of course, mga raliyista,” he said.

(I'm just saying, you can go out and protest but don't cause inconvenience. People will be greatly affected. Traffic is the  biggest problem, which is caused by the major deployment of police and protesters.)

Bayan, for its part, criticized the "overkill" police deployment as they asserted their right to protest.

“The bloated spending for SONA ceremonies and overkill deployment of police represents an unnecessary expense that should have been spent to provide welfare to the poor. These are the inconvenient truths that the police and the government do not want the people to hear,” Bayan said. — DVM, GMA Integrated News