BACOLOD City – Members of progressive group Anak Bayan-Negros took to the streets to demand for President Rodrigo Duterte’s ouster as they commemorated the recent 48th anniversary of the First Quarter Storm.
The First Quarter Storm was a series of civic uprisings against the repressive policies from January to March 1970 during Ferdinand Marcos’ regime.
According to Anak Bayan-Negros chairwoman Harlen Balora, the current situation in the Philippines is “no different from 48 years ago.”
Balora said like Marcos, Duterte has shown his “iron-hand rule over the country” as he oppressed dissenters of his polices, calling them terrorists.
She added that Duterte is a “puppet” of the United States and China.
The youth leader also blasted the free college tuition program of the government, which she called “fake.”
Balora said it is still elusive for poor students to avail themselves of free education and get a “decent college degree.”
College education is still not free, she stressed.
Anak Bayan-Negros also demanded for the immediate scrapping of the “anti-poor” Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law and the all-out war on illegal drugs that claimed thousands of lives since 2016.
It also demanded for the release of Myles Albasin and five others who were arrested after a shootout between members of the Philippine Army and the New People’s Army (NPA) in Mabinay, Negros Oriental on March 3.
Albasin, a 21-year-old mass communication graduate of the University of the Philippines in Cebu and a former Anak Bayan leader, and the five others were tagged as NPA rebels.
But the National Democratic Front (NDF) said they were not.
In a statement, the NDF said Albasin and the five others were only conducting a “social investigation” when members of the Army arrested them./PN
