Workers mark Labor Day with protests
Workers from different parts of the country converged on Monday to join Labor Day protest actions.
In a tweet, Super Radyo dzBB’s Allan Gatus said that as early as 6 a.m. on Monday, members of the urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) have started preparing for their march to Welcome Rotunda from Agham Road in Quezon City.
Naghahanda na ang grupong KADAMAY para mag-martsa patungo ng Mabuhay Rotonda. | via @allangatus pic.twitter.com/OfJCpei5lS
— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) April 30, 2017
Militant groups who were also on Agham Road prepared an effigy of a vulture donning the colors of the American flag.
Effigy ng isang buwitre na may linta ang gagamitin ng mga militante sa kanilang malakihang kilos protesta. | pic.twitter.com/f82LxY4jnh
— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) April 30, 2017
At around 8 a.m. on Monday, Kadamay members began marching to Welcome Rotunda.
LOOK: Grupong KADAMAY, nagmamartsa na patungo ng Mabuhay Rotonda para sa kanilang kilos-protesta. | via @allangatus pic.twitter.com/cemrmsKohe
— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) May 1, 2017
They reached Welcome Rotunda at around 9 a.m.
Kilos-protesta ng grupong KADAMAY sa Mabuhay Rotonda, QC, nagdudulot na ng pagbigat ng daloy ng trapiko. | via @allangatus #DobolBSaNewsTV pic.twitter.com/RGoMgD6yMm
— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) May 1, 2017
In an Unang Balita report by Bernadette Reyes on Monday, Federico Indico of Kadamay said the group is calling for an end to contractualization, as well as for higher minimum wage and housing for the poor.
He is also hoping that President Rodrigo Duterte would finally have a concrete plan for urban poor members like them.
From Welcome Rotunda, the group will march to Liwasang Bonifacio in Lawton, Manila and proceed to Don Chino Roces Street (formerly Mendiola), near Malacañang, to converge with other protesting groups.
Meanwhile, several anti-Duterte groups led by the Democratic Alliance Movement of the Philippines International were already at the Liwasang Bonifacio on Monday morning, Super Radyo dzBB’s Carlo Mateo reported.
Clad in black and yellow, the groups protested against several issues such as extrajudicial killings, and the lowering of the minimum age of criminal liability.
Unlike other protesters, the anti-Duterte groups opted to stay and hold their program at Liwasang Bonifacio.
In Makati City, several business process outsourcing (BPO) employees who call themselves as “Bayaning Puyat” launched their own protest action, Super Radyo dzBB’s Mao Dela Cruz reported.
Ilang business process outsourcing employees, maagang nagsagawa ng kilos-protesta sa Makati City. | via Mao dela Cruz #DobolBSaNewsTV pic.twitter.com/O25Cu3q15w
— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) April 30, 2017
The BPO employees are protesting against the “neoliberal attacks” on labor.
At least 3,000 policemen will be deployed in Manila to secure protest actions on Labor Day, National Capital Region Police chief Director Oscar Albayalde said.
Meanwhile, in Bicol, at least 28,000 are expected to join Labor Day protests all over the province, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said. —Erwin Colcol/KG, GMA News