Senate employees walk out to protest PP 1017

Senate employees wearing arm bands and bearing placards, on Thursday walked out of the Senate building in Pasay City to protest the declaration of Presidential Proclamation 1017. The Senate employees demanded the immediate lifting of PP 1017, which placed the country under a state of national emergency. They shouted and carried placards with the words “Never again to martial law" and “No to 1017." The protest came after 15 senators came in session late Wednesday afternoon wearing black arm bands. The Senate has earlier adopted a resolution condemning illegal acts committed by the police and the military during the emergency situation. Perla Mayor, president of the 1,700-strong Sandigan ng mga Empleyado para sa Nagkakaisang Adhikain ng Demokratikong Organisasyon (Senado), said they will continue holding rallies and wearing black armbands until the “repressive" proclamation is lifted. Mayor said the employees will wear black shirts or pants on Monday to “mourn the death of democracy." “This protest action demonstrates our intense opposition to proclamation 1017 which curtails our liberty and puts a death knell to our democracy," she said. The Senate, she said, is the last bulwark of democracy and “we as an integral part of the Senate cannot just allow the curtailment of civil liberties of our citizens. We will act as one in opposing Proclamation 1017." Senate secretary Oscar Yabes said the Senate as an institution would not be cowed by the Presidential proclamation and would remain an independent institution.-GMANews.TV