By RALPH JOHN MIJARES
ROXAS City — Thousands of Capiceños will join a province-wide protest march today during the State of the Nation Address of President Benigno Aquino III.
Almost 15,000 people pledged to join the mass action, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Capiz claimed.
Protesters from the 1st District will meet in Panay town, while those from the 2nd District will assemble in Barangay Lanot here.
They will march simultaneously starting 9 a.m. heading to the bandstand at the public plaza here. Expected to join them are representatives from the civil society, academe, church, and other associations.
A “Lunch of the Poor” will be held before a program at 1 p.m.
An effigy depicting “corruption via the Disbursement Acceleration Program” will be paraded and burnt, said Kashmer Diestro, Bayan–Capiz spokesperson.
Poverty, unemployment, development aggression, and abandonment of social services by the government will be tackled during the program, Diestro said. He assured that the protest will be “orderly.”
City and provincial police will secure the protest march from the assembly areas up to the bandstand, Senior Supt. Ulysses Caton, provincial police director, said over a radio interview.
Some policemen will guide the traffic flow and put up checkpoints, while others will be on standby for emergency deployment, he said./PN
