Tuesday, November 14, 2017

The Police outdid themselves: Injured 123 on anti-Trump protest

Police forces injured hundreds in a violent attempt to disperse anti-Trump protesters along Taft Avenue, November 13. The first-aid team pegged the total number of assisted injured protesters at 123. On the previous day, around 20 protesters have been injured in a similar brutal dispersal. Injuries included head contusions, open head wounds, possible fractures, and bruises.



A severe case of a 24-year-old woman has been documented. She took a water cannon blast directly on her left ear, added with four head contusions as policemen hit her with their truncheons multiple times. She lost balance and started vomiting. She was taken to the Philippine General Hospital for further treatment after she was given first-aid.

The series of violent dispersals clearly show the fascist nature of the Duterte administration. Aside from the usual water cannons and violence, reports say that the police used a sonic weapon called LRAD. Attack on protesters intensified as President Duterte met with US President Donald Trump.
The Duterte administration's economic policies show dependence to the United States, China, and Russia on unequal terms, whereas political actions now show subservience to the whims of these countries. This dependence and subservience is characterized by years of US military encroachment, economic liberalization, plunder of natural resources, cheaper labor, and privatization of social services such as health.

Filipinos therefore mourn the death of Duterte's independent foreign policy, while these imperialist countries feast on its corpse. On simpler terms, he has sold the interests of the masses, along with his promises and the people's aspirations, to foreign imperialist interests.

The US-Duterte regime must be held accountable for its crimes against the people. Health Alliance for Democracy stands with other sectors of society in showing fury against this fascist government. No to fascism! No to imperialism! No to fascist war against the Filipino people!##

Monday, November 13, 2017

Health groups say: Ban Trump!


Manila – Health groups under Health Alliance for Democracy joined thousands of Filipinos in the call to #BanTrump as they marched to the Philippine International Convention Center, the venue for ASEAN Summit 2017, November 13.

As the new CEO of capitalist interests, Trump's tour ensures US dominance in the Asia-Pacific region by pushing for economic policies if not by military might. These policies which include the privatization of health care and other basic social services have been detrimental to Filipinos.

The quagmire of overproduction and growing debt among US, China, Russia, and other big imperialists necessitates their expansion in Asia; the ASEAN Summit is the perfect venue to pull the Philippines into it. Despite the aggrandized commercials through dominant media channels, 50 years of ASEAN failed to deliver. "Inclusive growth" has been elusive since its conception, a sugar coat on top of bitter years.

Also included in the ASEAN Summit agenda is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership or RCEP, a free trade agreement with China's interests at its core. Its contents are shrouded in secrecy (just like the US-led TransPacific Partnership) and hidden from public scrutiny, as top businessmen and world leaders talk about the future of the Asia-Pacific region, in other words, controlling the market for their profit.

HEAD therefore remains steadfast in its commitment to resist policies and foreign interventions aiming to push our people deeper into poverty and illness and worse, make profit out of our ill health. No to privatization! No to unfair economic policies! No to RCEP! Ban Trump!##

Police hit protesters in anti-Trump rally

MANILA – Around 20 protesters suffered injuries in an anti-Trump rally on the same day the US president arrived in the country, according to health group Health Alliance for Democracy.

Police fired water cannons and hit protesters with truncheons and shields, who sustained deep lacerations, abrasions, and blunt trauma. Five were brought to the hospital with three sustaining head injuries.

Photo by Kathy Yamzon
"We condemn this latest act of police brutality," said HEAD secretary-general Dr. Joseph Carabeo. "Every Filipino has the right to oppose the peddling of their country to salivating foreign interests."

Protesters composed of farmers, workers, urban poor, and indigenous people marched towards the US embassy in a wave of protests as US President Trump is set to talk with President Duterte during the ASEAN Summit meetings.

Their agenda will include the strengthening of US military intervention through deployment of more US troops in the Philippines, and further liberalization of the economy to lower wages, plunder resources. and privatize social services for Filipinos.

"We ought to ask: at the end of the day, who are Duterte and his police really protecting and serving?"

"This violent reaction of state forces to groups exposing the government’s subservience to US agenda is evidence that it is not the Filipino," Carabeo ended.##