Gabriela Youth - Metro Tacloban

VIOLENT. DESPOTIC. UNLAWFUL.

PULSO han Mag-aaram denounces the Philippine National Police Tacloban for the threat imposed on the security and wellbeing of student council and student publication members across different University of the Philippines (UP) campuses in the violent, despotic, and unlawful dispersal of a peaceful protest action in Mcdiola, Downtown Tacloban as part of the 57th General Assembly of Student Councils (GASC).

August 16, 2024 at around 5 PM, the delegates held the lightning rally to highlight pressing issues inside and outside of UP such as the curtailment of academic freedom, heightening militarization in UP and in farming communities in various regions in the Philippines, unlivable wages, and extortionate prices of basic goods and services. During the start of the program, a few numbers of police forces are already visible at the vicinity of the area; however, the protest remained peaceful, until being forced by an entity from Traffic Operation Management, Enforcement, & Control Office (TOMECO) together with multiple cops. The protest was supposed to relocate to the RTR Plaza along Justice Romualdez St. when placards and banners held by the participating students were forcibly taken from them. A chase then ensued which led to police barricading around the delegates at the Price Mansion (formerly the Tingog office in Tacloban) which lasted for more than two hours. As the students pushed to assert constitutional rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, a student leader was roughhoused, pushed to the ground, handcuffed, and ordered arrested by the City Director of the Tacloban Police Office PCOL Michael Palermo. The police official event went as far as to equate the democratic protest activity to joining the New People’s Army. This thinking and behavior from supposed ‘protectors’ puts at risk the youth and the broad Filipino masses. What is so wrong with exercising the right to protest?

The violent dispersal of the protest action yesterday is not an isolated incidence posing threat to the student delegates. Throughout the weeklong GASC, several people believed to be state intelligence officers were seen taking pictures of the delegates. Police patrol cars and officers are also seen around the area multiple times. Additionally, posts alleging the LGU’s irrational and unconstitutional disapproval of the GASC surfaced in social media.

Left unchecked in the past couple of years, after the arrest of the Tacloban 5 and the militaristic lockdown imposed on all Filipinos in 2020, state forces in the Eastern Visayas Region are now empowered to violate basic civil liberties of the Filipino People. Is there Martial Law in Tacloban City? Is there no freedom in this City? Such deplorable treatment of human rights should have no place in this country!

It is a clear move to stifle any dissent from critical voices calling for accountability and exposing corrupt machinations of greedy corporations and bureaucrat capitalists. This violent treatment towards protesting civilians is a clearly shows that they want to keep things hidden. Let us not forget the ongoing struggle in the Cancabato Bay which is threatened to be reclaimed and turned into a business and financial district where only rich capitalist overlords and their allies will benefit, at the cost of fisherfolk losing their livelihood. Let us not forget that farming communities in Samar province deal with military harassing them, disrupting their livelihoods, and even outright killing them. Let us not forget that this state will lie and cheat and present ‘rebel surrenderees’ to justify the crimes they commit against humanity.

The return to McDiola is historic. Even amid the violence faced by the GASC delegation, the spirit of all mass actions previously held at McDiola lives! Further, the nationalist spirit of the Iskolar ng Bayan is now more than ever set ablaze and we vow to continue the fight for national democracy that seeks to destroy US imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism that are the root causes of social ills felt my the masses today.

Right now, the need to band together and fight for our fundamental rights becomes all the more crucial. We therefore call on all Iskolar ng Bayan to join the fight! Let us organize and be organized! Let us go to the masses, learn from them, and mobilize into one unified surge that will topple the walls and towers built by the ruling elite to keep us confined!

Kabataan, buhayin ang diwang makabayan! Pagsilbihan ang bayan!

Ngayong International Working Women's Day, nakikiisa ang Gabriela Youth - Metro Tacloban sa panawagan ng malawak na hanay ng mga kababaihan, bata man o matanda, laban sa patuloy at walang humpay na pagratsada ng Charter Change ng administrasyong Marcos.

Sa halip na tutukan ang sapilitang pagbabago ng konstitusyon na naglalayong pagsilbihan lamang ang kanilang pansariling interes, ang dapat na prayoridad ng administrasyon ni Marcos Jr. ay ang paglutas sa mga suliraning nagpapahirap sa mga Pilipino. Ang pagtaas ng presyo ng mga pangunahing bilihin, ang patuloy na paghihirap ng mga manggagawa dahil sa kawalan ng tamang sahod, ang walang habas na pagsasamantala at karahasan laban sa kababaihan, at ang dumaraming bilang ng mga paglabag sa karapatang pantao—ito ang mga bagay na dapat pagtuunan ng pansin.

Ngunit, sa halip na solusyunan ang mga problemang ito, ang ipinipilit ni Marcos Jr. sa pamamagitan ng Charter Change ay ang pagbibigay pahintulot sa 100% foreign ownership, na magbibigay lamang ng kapangyarihan sa mga kapitalistang dayuhan na pagsamantalahan ang ating likas na yaman.

Dagdag pa rito, ang pagpapahaba ng termino ng mga tiwaling opisyal ng gobyerno ay malinaw na pamamaraan ni Marcos Jr. at ng kanyang mga alipores upang manatili sa kapangyarihan. Ang kanilang tinatawag na 'People's Initiative' sa Charter Change ay walang katotohanan at puro panlilinlang lamang. Ito'y ebidensya na hindi nila tunay na iniisip ang kapakanan ng masang maralita.

Patuloy lamang ang ating malawakang pagkilos at pakikibaka tungo sa pagsulong ng pambansang demokrasya at soberanya mula sa mga imperyalistang dayuhan, at kalayaan mula sa karahasan at anuman na uri ng pang-aapi at inhustisya na patuloy na isinasagawa ng mga naghaharing-uri sa ating bansa! Ang sigaw at panawagan ng mga kabataang kababaihan mula sa Gabriela Youth - Metro Tacloban—NO TO CHARTER CHANGE!

Yesterday, March 1, 2024, UP Tacloban stood in solidarity with the global One Billion Rising movement, amplifying the call to end violence against women and girls. This powerful start to Women's Month reminds us of the strength in unity and the power of our voices. Stay tuned as we continue to empower and uplift throughout the month!





Photos by Winona Galaroza

🌟 Join us at the UP Tacloban AS Grounds on March 1, 2024, from 4:00PM to 5:00PM, as we celebrate One Billion Rising! 🌍💃🕺

📚 From 4:00PM-4:30PM, engage in an insightful Educational Discussion about empowering women and ending violence against them. 🎓🗣️

🎶 Then, from 4:30PM-4:40PM, let's dance together in solidarity with the global movement to end violence against women! 💃💪

Don't miss this chance to be part of a meaningful cause and have fun while doing it! 🌟





Publicity Material by KC Macabare