30,000 'prayer warriors' to join anti-Chacha rally in Manila

All roads lead Monday to the Liwasang Bonifacio freedom park in Manila for a "grand" indignation rally to be led by political opposition leaders, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and various left-leaning groups. The CBCP and some 30,000 "prayer warriors" will converge in various freedom parks at 1 p.m. Monday then assemble in front of the Philippine Post office in Lawton, Manila to denounce through prayers the government's Charter change initiatives. The groups oppose the signature drive pushed by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), of which the signatures would be used to ask the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to schedule a plebiscite to introduce amendments to the Constitution. The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and other left-leaning groups would also troop to the freedom park to air their grievances against government, in particular against the military and the police, for the unsolved killings of activists in the countryside. Families of the slain victims would join the militant groups in the march from the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) along España Avenue in Manila to the Liwasang Bonifacio. They would attempt anew to march to Mendiola Bridge, where a scuffle last Friday between protesters and Manila Police District (MPD) officers left at least four marchers and three law enforcers injured. CBCP President Angel Lagdameo, who will attend a prayer rally to be held in Iloilo, said the government should not look at the inter-faith rally and the indignation protests as destabilization moves against the government. "Government should not take it as destabilization. This is an expression of the people's sentiments regarding the issue," Lagdameo said. Also expected to join the inter-faith prayer rally are Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, Bataan Bishop Socrates Villegas, Manila Bishop Teodoro Bacani Jr, National Artist awardee Bienvenido Lumbera, former Executive Secretary Oscar Orbos, members of the People's Movement Against Arroyo's Charter Change (People's March) led by former President Corazon Aquino and former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr and members of other cause-oriented groups. Similar events would also be held nationwide, particularly in Baguio City, Bacolod, Cebu, Davao, Bicol, Cagayan de Oro and Central Luzon. For his part, Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr said families of slain leaders of left-leaning groups would press for the immediate resolution of the killings and would seek increased international pressure on the government, "enough to make the killings politically costly for Malacañang." "This is a fight that we will not back down from. We say, enough of the killing fields. We are intent on making the Arroyo regime accountable, legally and politically. She is going to reap the whirlwind," Reyes said. Human rights group Karapatan already documented over 600 activist deaths since 2001, the year Gloria Macapagal-Aroyo assumed the presidency. Bayan had led nationwide demonstrations against the Arroyo government to call its attention to the unsolved killings, many of which military and police authorities claimed were part of a communist purge. In Metro Manila, police were placed on full alert until Tuesday when classes in colleges and private schools open. Director Vidal Querol, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, said at least 6,000 policemen would guard key areas in Metro Manila.-GMANews.TV