Health Alliance for Democracy together with progressive organizations today trooped to the US Embassy to protest their continued imperialist intervention in the country, in commemoration of the 1991 Senate vote to reject the extension of a US bases treaty.
“At this point, Duterte has completely rejected the prospect of an independent foreign policy,” said HEAD secretary-general Dr. Joseph Carabeo.
This time last year, progressive groups staged protest actions in support of the president’s then-pronouncements against US political and military intervention. “But now, Duterte has accommodated their troops, instigated fear and Islamophobia against the Moro people, and implemented the US-imperialist agenda in Mindanao and throughout the country through his counterinsurgency program,” continued Carabeo.
Duterte’s pandering to the US imperialist and fascist agenda continues through the House-approved national budget railroaded by his majority coalition.
Carabeo observed that the 2018 budget sees cuts for institutions key for social services and the protection of civil liberties, such as public hospitals, state colleges and universities, and the Commission of Human Rights. Meanwhile, billions of pesos will fund AFP-bred paramilitary groups that have targeted progressives and activists, the president’s inflated personal intelligence fund, and community-surveillance program MASA MASID.
“By this, Duterte is covering all his bases and is laying the groundwork to be no different, if not a fascist worse than his predecessors. And that includes Marcos,” Carabeo said.
It is thus up to the Filipino people to stand against the US-Duterte regime’s impending dictatorship, to continue the struggle for an independent foreign policy and a just society. “HEAD is joining the broad movement against tyranny and will march to Luneta on September 21,” Carabeo ended. ##
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