Pro, anti-Duterte groups stage rallies ahead of SONA

MANILA, Philippines — Various groups on Monday staged multiple demonstrations ahead of President Rodrigo Duterte's second State of the Nation Address.

Both supporters and critics of Duterte set up stage hundreds of meters away from Batasan Complex where Duterte is slated to deliver his SONA speech.

The anti-Duterte groups will hold what they call People's SONA, while the pro-Duterte group, Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte National Executive Coordinating Committee, staged rally to support Duterte's visions.

Tourism Promotions Board Chief Operating Officer Cesar Montano reportedly paid for the stage of the pro-Duterte rally.

Militant groups Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Sanlakas and Partido ng Lakas ng Masa (PLM), earlier said they are "staging multiple demonstrations to assert that Duterte's promise of change has not been realized."

Members of the militant groups started with simultaneous protests at the Bureau of Internal Revenue to express opposition to the proposed Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion program.

For these groups, the tax reform program is "regressive" and "anti-poor." They said it will only benefit few of the country's 22-million wage earners.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez during the opening of the regular session boasted Tax Reform bill as among the two landmark bills the lower chamber of the 17th Congress has approved on third and final reading.

The groups also held protests at the National Housing Authority to push for decent, affordable and safe public housing, as well as the head office of the Department of Natural Resource to call for the termination of all coal-related projects.

“The simultaneous actions at various state agencies is proof that change has not come. Despite Duterte’s rosy pronouncements while still campaigning and even up to his first SONA, Duterte’s regime remains to be a major let down for those who voted for him," BMP president Leody de Guzman said on Sunday.

"We are even baffled with what he plans to brag as achievements in tomorrow’s SONA. After an entire year of threatening employers who abuse contractual workers, no finger was lifted and despite our protestations, contractual employment remains to be the dominant mode of employment in the country," he added.

The militant groups who are holding the simultaneous demonstrations will merge in front of the the Iglesia ni Cristo church in Litex along Commonwealth Avenue and will march towards the North gate, where they will hold their program. The National Capital Region Police Office earlier said protests will only be allowed up to the South gate.

About 6,000 police are assigned to secure the vicinity of Batasan Complex.

Militant groups said that similar protests would be held in other provinces such Bacolod, Tacloban, Cebu and Davao. — Rosette Adel