Foreign-based militants to join protests vs. Obama's PHL visit

Filipino militant groups based in the United States and other countries will join protests against the visit of US President Barack Obama this coming week, militant umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said Saturday.

Bayan, which is planning its own two-day protest action, said at least 20 US-based organizations allied with it were to start the protests on Friday (US time).

“The groups all oppose the US military pivot to Asia and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA),” it said.

“We’d also like to remind the Aquino regime that just because a US president is coming doesn’t mean our Constitutional rights will be diminished. Obama’s arrival doesn’t mean our rights as Filipinos, including the right to protest, can be curtailed,” said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr.

It said the protesting groups in the US include Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, Tomos Somos Japon, Viet Roots, Taiwan is Not 4 Sale, Trade Justice, Iraq Veterans Against the War, United National Anti-War Coalition, Grassroots Global Justice, International Action Center, American Friends Service Committee, Chinese Progressive Association, Critical Resistance, HOBAK-Hella Organized Bay Area Koreans, New Priorities Campaign, OccupySF Action Council, Women for Genuine Security, Union of progressive Iranians, Union del Barrio and Long Beach Area Peace Network.

Bayan said the US-based protest actions were to start April 25 in New York, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

On the other hand, the group said it is coordinating with groups from Japan and South Korea for “continued protests” against plans to increase US bases and troop presence in the region.

They are also protesting what they called a renewed push by the US for the US-led trade pact that is the TPPA.

Bayan opposed the railroading of the Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation (AEDC), which it branded as a de facto basing pact that signals a second US military occupation.

It also objected to the TPPA, which it said will lead to amendments to the 1987 Philippine Constitution and the “removal of any protection for the domestic economy.”

“As Filipinos, we have to be critical of the US agenda in the region. We do not want to be pawns in the US power play in Asia. We do not want to be used for US bases and troops and be a staging ground for US intervention. We do not want the US simply taking advantage of the dispute with China and giving false promises of aid just so the US can justify the return of its bases in the Philippines. And we do not want another free trade agreement that aims to change the Constitution and bleed the economy dry,” said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr.

PHL protests

In the Philippines, Bayan said it and its allies will hold protest actions for next week including a protest march to the former US air force base in Clark, Pampanga.

Protest caravans and marches are also to be held across Mindanao where US troops have been stationed since 2002, it said.

“Groups from Southern Tagalog are also expected to troop to Metro Manila,” it said.

In Manila, Bayan said its members will converge at the Liwasang Bonifacio on Monday, April 28, before marching to the historic Mendiola bridge near Malacañang, where they will hold a program.

There, they will bring an effigy of a “puppet” President Benigno Aquino III dragging an effigy Obama on a chariot.

‘Lack of transparency’ in AEDC

Meanwhile, former Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño scored the lack of transparency in drafting the AEDC, which he said may be signed next week by the US and Philippines.

“By making this an executive agreement not requiring Senate concurrence, the Philippine government has assured that details of the pact will remain a secret until the day it is signed. The people are deliberately being kept in the dark. We are being given assurances only through press conferences by negotiators, but there is really nothing we can scrutinize,” he said. — Joel Locsin /LBG, GMA News