Anti-con-ass protest by the 'silent'

BAYWALK, Manila – Without a chant or even a protest song, a group of self-described “silent protesters" simply stood by the sea and held up a banner with only two words: “Explain Yourselves." But approached individually as Manila Bay’s famed sunset glowed behind them, these angry and well-dressed mostly young adults were anything but silent.

They demanded that congressmen explain the haste with which they approved the now-notorious House Resolution 1109, which calls for a constituent assembly to change the Charter, and encouraged normally passive citizens to find creative ways to show their disgust. "I don't wanna use the term 'dictatorship,' but we might be a stone's throw away if nobody reacts," said Sarah, a 28-year-old NGO worker who requested anonymity. "Even if this is--you can call it a straggler group--a small group of people, it has to start somewhere." Most of the 30 or so protesters, including a handful of college students, who were gathered along Baywalk last weekend asserted that they won’t join the much larger and noisier marches and demonstrations being planned in the coming days, including Wednesday’s anti con-ass rally on Ayala Avenue in Makati. With a few sporting devil-may-care props of shades and cigs, they were hardly noticed by the Sunday strollers along Baywalk. Unlike traditional activists, these protesters didn’t approach spectators or hand out leaflets. But their sudden appearance here could be the tip of an iceberg of passive public opinion that is stirring below the surface, according to Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, who is also a University of the Philippines sociology professor. The con-ass resolution “set into momentum a process in which non-activists are becoming activists," he said in a telephone interview. According to Gang Badoy, executive director of the event’s organizer Rock Ed Philippines and a radio talk show host about youth issues: “We're asking a question—we’re not demanding you to repeal it, we're not demanding anything because we're not experts in political structure. However, we know what we see, and what we saw is a hasty passing of something." Twenty-year-old college student Juan Miguel Bautista will be too busy with school to join Wednesday’s rally, the first major demonstration against con-ass this year by a wide array of groups. Plus, it’s “not really my kind of thing," he said. But he was among those carrying the “Explain Yourselves" banner and privately calling the House majority “illogical" for railroading the resolution. “They could’ve asked each and everyone to explain para the people would know kung bakit naman nila ginawa yung ganong decision [They could’ve asked each and everyone to explain so the people would know why they arrived at that decision]," said Bautista. It wasn’t the first “silent protest" he attended and it won’t be the last, he added. Fellow college student Danieve Japson, 19, said he too prefers this quieter form of protest. "It [marching street protests] is not the proper way para hingin sa government kung ano yung gusto mo, saka kung ano yung dapat [It's not the proper way to ask the government for what you want and what must be given to you]." Japson is dismissive of rallies that just tie up traffic and worsen “noise pollution." Photos, videos and commentary about the silent protest have made their way to various blogs and Facebook profiles, fast becoming venues of anti con-ass opinion and emotion that may not find its ways into the streets. GMANews.TV