Activists in Manila set protests against Obama

MANILA, Philippines - Various groups under the militant group Bayan are gearing up for a two-day protest against US President Barack Obama, who was expected to arrive in the country on Monday.

Bayan said that at least 20 affiliated organizations in the US will also hold protests in New York, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles on Friday.

Protesting US organizations include Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, Tomos Somos Japon, Viet Roots, Taiwan is Not 4 Sale, Trade Justice, Iraq Veterans Against the War, United National Anti-War Coalition, Grassroots Global Justice, International Action Center, American Friends Service Committee, Chinese Progressive Association, Critical Resistance, HOBAK-Hella Organized Bay Area Koreans, New Priorities Campaign, Occupy SF Action Council, Women for Genuine Security, Union of progressive Iranians, Union del Barrio and Long Beach Area Peace Network.

Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr. said that the groups oppose the US military pivot to Asia and the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

He said that protest actions next week include a protest march to the former US air force base in Clark, Pampanga, and protest caravans and marches across Mindanao where US troops have been stationed since 2002.

He added that groups from Southern Tagalog are also expected to troop to Metro Manila.

In Manila, Bayan will converge at the Liwasang Bonifacio on Monday before marching to the historic Mendiola bridge where they will hold a program.

A giant effigy of President Benigno Aquino III dragging Obama on a chariot would be the visual centerpiece of the protest, Reyes said.

Bayan is coordinating with groups from Japan and South Korea for continued protests against plans to increase US bases and troop presence in the region along with a renewed push for the US-led trade pact that is the TPPA.

The group has decried the alleged railroading of the Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation (AEDC) which it described as a de facto basing pact that signals a second US military occupation.

Bayan also objects to the TPPA, which, it said, will result in amendments to the Philippine Constitution and the removal of any protection for the domestic economy.

"As Filipinos, we have to be critical of the US agenda in the region. We do not want to be pawns in the US power play in Asia. We do not want to be used for US bases and troops and be a staging ground for US intervention. We do not want the US simply taking advantage of the dispute with China and giving false promises of aid just so the US can justify the return of its bases in the Philippines. And we do not want another free trade agreement that aims to change the Constitution and bleed the economy dry," Reyes said.

For his part, former Bayan Muna representative Teddy Casino decried what he claims the sheer lack of transparency in the drafting of the AEDC which is expected to be signed next week by the US and Philippines.

"By making this an executive agreement not requiring Senate concurrence, the Philippine government has assured that details of the pact will remain a secret until the day it is signed. The people are deliberately being kept in the dark. We are being given assurances only through press conferences by negotiators, but there is really nothing we can scrutinize," Casino said.