THOUSANDS are expected to take to the streets here today to express their disappointment over the performance of the Aquino administration and some of the local officials.
The progressive Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) in Northern Mindanao will be taking the Aquino government into account in time for the President’s last State of the Nation Address (Sona).
Bayan Secretary General for Northern Mindanao Wildon Barros said they will rally their delegates around 4 pm at the Magsaysay Park for their alternative “Kontra Sona.”
“We plan to mobilize at least 3,000 people from different organizations under Bayan,” Barros said. Barros also said that they will highlight their protest action by burning an effigy of Aquino.
One of the two contingents is composed of civil society organizations led by the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro while the other will be composed of sectoral organizations affiliated with Bayan in Northern Mindanao.
Organizers from the civil society contingent said they will mobilize at least 5,000 individuals coming from different villages of the city.
The civil society contingent organizers said they are mobilizing their group to “pressure” Vice Mayor Caesar Ian Acenas and Partido Padayon Pilipino-dominated city council to approve the fund which Mayor Oscar Moreno requested for the closure, rehabilitation, and relocation of the city’s dump site in Sitio Dagong, Upper Carmen, this city.
The civil society group wants the city dump moved to a new location away from the city proper. The group plans to start their protest action in time for the regular session of city council.
At 2 pm, the civil society contingent will assemble at the Gaston Park, where they will start their “green walk” around Divisoria. They will return to the city’s legislative building to hold a short program.
The protest action is also in commemoration of the Solid Waste Management Awareness Week which starts today until Aug. 1.
The civil society protest action is a response to the call of Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, SJ. “Solid Waste Management is beyond politics. If the elected officials of the city, especially members of the city council, truly have the people’s welfare in their hearts, then they should not hinder programs and projects that would improve the lives of a lot of people,” Ledesma said in a statement distributed to the different civil society groups of the city.
Former vice mayor Antonio Soriano also answered the call of Ledesma by mobilizing residents from Golden Village Subdivision, Alco Homes, and Sacred Heart Village.
These residents, Soriano said, have long been exposed to the air pollution from the city dumpsite. Thus, their participation in today’s protest action.
For his part, Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo) director Senior Supt. Faro Antonio Olaguera said that they are ready for protest actions of the two large contingents today in two separate venues in the city.
“We have issued a red alert to our Cocpo personnel to ensure that peace and order in the city will be maintained,” said Olaguera.
Olaguera said they will deploy hundreds of uniformed and plain clothes police personnel at the said venues of the two protest actions.
“We will also deploy the city’s bomb squad, Swat (Special Weapon and Tactics), and our K9 unit,” he said. (nitz arancon)
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