Activist groups marched along Commonwealth Avenue to denounce President Benigno Aquino III's 6th and final State of the Nation Address. For the regime, the occasion is expected to be the valedictory of the President. For ordinary folks joining the march, it is a day of rage against Aquino's "failed leadership".

The road to Batasang Pambansa has been lined up with layers of concrete and steel barriers, concertina wires and container vans, along with thousands of policemen deployed to stop protesters from moving towards the SONA venue. Umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and the National Union of Peoples Lawyers both maintain that the barricades are illegal and violate the constitutional rights of the protesters.

A 15-foot effigy of Aquino on board a dilapidated MRT coach will be the central visual of the protest. The effigy signifies the failures of the regime and the lack of empathy and concern of the President for the welfare of the people. It is the biggest Aquino effigy made by the artist group Ugat Lahi.

“After 5 SONAs and numerous other speeches, we come to the conclusion that what was laid out as ‘daang matuwid’ five years ago is a sham, nothing more than empty rhetoric to prop up a regime that has not delivered meaningful achievements for the people,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.

“The Aquino regime will be remembered for the following things: pork barrel corruption, the illegal Disbursement Acceleration Program, the failed response before and after Yolanda, the Mamasapano incident, the daily suffering of train commuters, the return of US bases via the EDCA, the selective prosecution in corruption cases, bogus land reform, historically high unemployment amid so-called growth, the plight of Mary Jane Veloso and the rise of barkadahan governance,” Reyes said.

Bayan said that the end of the Aquino regime brings to fore the question of accountability. Groups want Aquino and his cohorts to be held accountable for their many misdeeds.

“The real SONA will be delivered outside the halls of congress. The real SONA will be delivered sans the red carpet fashion show and expensive meriendas for the rich and powerful. It will be delivered by the survivors of the Kentex fire, the farmers of Luisita, the Yolanda victims, the commuters of the MRT, the indigenous people’s resisting foreign mining, the unemployed youth, the overworked teachers, and the overtaxed professionals. Aquino failed them during his five years in office,” Reyes said.

“In today’s SONA showdown, it is the US-backed Aquino regime on one side and the struggling Filipino people on the other. Aquino has surrounded himself with layer after layer of barriers and police as he delivers his final SONA. The people are being kept away as far as possible. It is a picture of a desperate and isolated regime,” Reyes added.

Bayan believes that like the decrepit MRT, the Aquino regime “should have long been replaced”.

“The Aquino regime has taught us the limits of the electoral exercise and how even a supposedly popular candidate cannot be relied on to implement meaningful reforms for the people. The people must ultimately rely on their own strength to push for changes in society. Our salvation lies not with the politicians but with a vigilant and organized citizenry fighting for genuine change,” the Bayan leader explained.

July 27, 2015
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