STATE OF THE PEOPLES’ ADDRESS: AKSYON KONTRA KURAPSYON (SOPAK). For the 5th time, President Benigno Simeon Aquino III will be addressing to the Filipino nation what his administration has done in the last 4 years of his presidency and the plan his administration will be doing in the remaining years of his term.
In light of the corruption issues and illegality of decision pertaining the usage of the public funds that dragged his administration into the quagmire of fraud, the promise of his “Tuwid na Daan” campaign to combat corruption in the government failed the Filipino people.
Aside from corruption, President Aquino III is losing ground due to the following issues his administration failed to address: (a) power rate increase is taking its toll as privatization of power industry continuously assaults the consumers through power supply speculation; (b) prices of basic commodities such as rice, spices and other food and petroleum based products have been spiraling upwards; (c) social services such as education, health, and transportation have become expensive and gradually being privatized leaving the poor and typhoon victims without viable options but to continue living in precarious conditions; (d) very slow implementation of agrarian reform further drags the peasants into the margins and still become the poorest sector in the society; (e) despite the economic growth that that this government boasts, millions of Filipinos continue to live in dire poverty while limited job opportunities force the Filipinos overseas, face uncertainties, and suffer abuses; and, (f) Indigenous Peoples’ assertion for ancestral domain has been continually neglected by the government in the peace negotiation with the MILF and even consider them as obstacles in the peace process.
On July 28, 2014 (1:00 to 5:00 PM), grassroots communities and different organizations from Iligan City, Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur will be having a State of the Peoples’ Address: Aksyon Kontra Korapsyon (SOPAK) in Iligan City. This is a parallel activity to the 5th State of the Nation Address (SONA) of the President of the Philippines.
This unified action is to stage the discontent of the people against corruption both in the local and national government and to put forward their demands on the pressing issues such as power privatization, agrarian reform, transparency and inclusivity of the peace process, support services to Sendong’s internally displaced families, tuition fee increase in the universities and colleges, and increasing prices of basic commodities and petroleum products.
SOPAK will start at 1:00 PM through demonstrations in different strategic areas. The rural poor will stage protest in the Provincial Office of the Department of Agrarian Reform to demand for the fast distribution of the agrarian lands. Sendong Survivors and the urban poor sector will have their demonstration in City Hall of Iligan City to protest the ongoing privatization of social services.
The third group will stage an anti-power privatization protest in front of the Iligan Lights and Power Incorporated. At 2:30 PM the people will converge in front of Iligan Post Office for the unified action against corruption.
SOPAK is organized by Ranaw Tri-people Movement for Genuine Peace and Development (RTMGPD), AKLAS, Iligan Survivors Movement (ISM), Liga ng Makabagong Kabataan (LMK), Alyansa ng Kabataang Mindanao Para sa Kapayapaan (AKMK), Coalition of Lanao Utility Transport for Change (CLUTCH), Kilusang Maralita sa Kanayunan (KILOS KA)-Lanao, Demokratikong Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (DKMKP)-Lanao and Lanao Fisheries Advocacy Network (LFAN).
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