ILOILO City – Just reiterations and lies, these were how the militant group based here described the last State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Rodrigo Duterte.
According to Bryan Bosque, deputy spokesperson of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Panay, the sixth and last SONA of Duterte is no different and has not changed for the last five years.
“He has only reiterated what he would usually order his men in normal times, that is ‘shoot them dead’,” said Bosque in a statement.
“Indeed, as he is nearing towards the end of his term, this fascist regime of Duterte will only get deadlier each day,” Bosque added.
According to the group, Duterte has only two problems in mind – drugs and insurgency and his solutions to these problems are what makes the Filipino people suffer from hunger and poverty.
“More than 30,00 have already been killed in his drug war, and more than 400 political activists, human rights workers, farmers, workers, indigenous people, and many other mass leaders were extrajudicially killed. About 30 of those are from Panay,” said the group’s spokesperson.
The group further opined that what the President boasted as “economic growth” is nothing but lies. They cited that according to Ibon Foundation, the GDP growth has consistently decreased since 2016. From 7.1% in 2016, it became 6.9% in 2017, 6.3% in 2018, and 6.0% in 2019.
On Duterte’s remarks lauding NTF-ELCAC and its accomplishments, the group described these as another lie. According to the President, 17,000 rebel communists have surrendered and their programs have benefitted the communities. “This is another lie from Duterte and his minions in the armed forces.
In fact, they are the ones that benefitted from the “surrenderees” whose numbers, they claimed before were only pegged from 3,000 to 4,000 or even lower. Imagine the millions or even billions that were “paid” to these so-called surrenderees that were pocketed by Duterte’s men.
In the case of the Tumandok people who were repeatedly called to in a restaurant in Oton, Iloilo, they were presented as rebel returnees but were not given the promised assistance. He also boasted about the projects, but ask the barangays that are selected as beneficiaries if they received their P20 million subsidy. Not even a single centavo arrived actually,” said Bosque. In terms of ayuda, the group noted that Duterte did not even mention any.
“Our people are hungry and starving, but clearly, Duterte just wants to maintain that. It is either we die from hunger or the lack of proper healthcare or be killed by Duterte’s killers and state forces,” said Bosque.
Bosque stressed that “if there is someone who is destroying the country, it is no one but Duterte, his killer state forces, and those that benefitted from corruption, those business-tycoons from TRAIN law, rice cartels and importers from rice tariffication law, those who expanded their businesses like water and telecommunications, and those in power who are using it to catapult themselves and secure slots in the 2022 presidential elections.”
“With nothing to look forward to from this fascist regime, we are left with nothing but the greater resolve to advance our causes and demands for the betterment of our people. We have to strengthen our ranks, expand and recruit more and see to it that Duterte will be held accountable to bring justice to all victims of human rights violations,” Bosque stressed./PN
