Militants preparing anti-dictatorship protests

MANILA, Philippines — Activists yesterday launched the Metro Manila chapter of a nationwide movement against what they deemed as the creeping dictatorship and tyranny of President Duterte.

Former Bayan Muna representative Neri Colmenares led the launching of the Movement Against Tyranny (MAT) National Capital Region chapter at the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital in Manila.

Colmenares, who is now chairman of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, slammed Duterte’s creeping dictatorship under the guise of federalism and Charter change.

He said under the proposed federal charter, Congress will be dissolved and an interim parliament will be composed of incumbent representatives and senators, as well as Cabinet members to be appointed by the President.

Colmenares said the proposed charter was similar to the one in place during the regime of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, especially because the President would be given oversight powers over the legislature, judiciary and constitutional bodies.

The former lawmaker said that in all his years in Congress, which saw attempts at Cha-cha for self-serving interests, “this is the worst Cha-cha ever.”

“Part of that tyranny is Charter change, which is the first step to a dictatorship,” Colmenares said.

The former lawmaker also cited Duterte’s bristling remarks against walkouts by student in state universities being given free tuition as proof of the Chief Executive’s “intolerance to dissent.”

Colmenares likewise slammed the body count of the government’s war on drugs, violation of the Constitution in the suspension of Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang, as well as the “trumped up” charges against high-ranking communist peace negotiator Rafael Baylosis, who was arrested for alleged illegal possessions of firearms and explosives.

MAT Metro Manila spokesperson and lead convenor Amirah Lidasan warned of more protest actions to come, saying Duterte seems to have the illusion that “he can silence the growing dissent and clamor against his tyrannical and dictatorial rule.”