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By James Konstantin Galvez, Reporter
Rival opposition groups stopped
their bickering and banded together on Friday to stage an
inter-faith protest, the biggest antigovernment protest in years, to
press the ouster of President Gloria Arroyo for alleged corruption.
Security forces went on full
alert as more than 15,000 people marched on the financial district
of Makati City in Metro Manila to call for President Arroyo’s
removal, officials said. Organizers said the number of protesters
reached 70,000 at its peak around 8 p.m. Their permit for the rally
was to lapse at the time.
Former Presidents Corazon Aquino
and Joseph Estrada were seen sitting side by side, apparently for
the first time in public, flanked by opposition politicians, Roman
Catholic bishops, priests, nuns, leftist activists and businessmen.
Aquino had joined a public
uprising backed by the bishops in 2001 that led to the ouster of
Estrada and the installation of his vice-president, Mrs. Arroyo, as
President.
She and Estrada were joined by
Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr., supposedly a key witness to alleged
brokering for kickbacks from the aborted $330-million national
broadband project.
Addressing the crowd of
protesters, Lozada reiterated that Malacañang continues to harass
him.
Estrada said he did not mind
being just meters away from Aquino.
“I think the distinction of
being the President who returned democracy to the people already
belongs to Cory,” he added, using her nickname. “I just wanted
to be remembered as the one who had championed the masses,”
Estrada said during an interview.
He added that he is with the
people’s struggle to search for the “truth” and that Mrs.
Arroyo should heed the public’s call for her to step down from
office.
Estrada said he was not fighting
the President but for the truth, claiming he is not engaging Mrs.
Arroyo in an all-out war.
He added that the country needs a
modern-day hero to lead the people in eradicating corruption in the
Arroyo government.
Estrada joined the march from the
Makati Fire Station near Gil Puyat Avenue (formerly Buendia) to
Paseo de Roxas Avenue together with his wife, former Sen. Luisa
“Loi” Estrada, his daughter Jackie, United Opposition President
and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay, Makati City First District Rep.
Abigail Binay and former Sen. Ernesto Maceda.
Behind them were members of
People’s Movement Against Poverty and the Union of the Masses for
Justice and Democracy who were singing “Gloria, Gloria, Magnanakaw”
(Gloria, Gloria, Thief) to the tune of the famous song “Gloria,
Gloria, Labandera (Gloria, Gloria, Laundrywoman).
Estrada led the singing of the
National Anthem as confetti fell from the Philippine Long Distance
Telephone Co. building, upon arriving near the Ninoy Aquino
monument. Ninoy is the nickname of the late former Sen. Benigno
Aquino Jr., Aquino’s husband.
Allegedly missing funds
Lozada and student groups were
among the first batch of protesters to reach the monument. They were
followed by those from the Catholic Educational Association of the
Philippines and Brother Eddie Villanueva’s Bangon Pilipinas
Movement.
In his speech, Lozada bared that
some P1.47 billion in government funds intended for various projects
is missing.
While thanking the crowd for
participating in the protest, he criticized police authorities who
reportedly blocked several groups of protesters who were on their
way to Makati.
United Opposition spokesman Adel
Tamano said the number of protesters reached at least 70,000.
The National Capital Regional Police Office put it at 15,000.
Among them was Aquino’s son and
Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd, party-list Rep. Risa
Hontiveros, former House Speaker Jose de Venecia’s wife Gina, and
Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim.
Missing groups
Although billed as an interfaith
rally, not all religious groups attended.
The influential Catholic bishops
earlier this week issued a statement stopping short of calling for
Mrs. Arroyo’s resignation but urged her to “clean up
corruption” in her administration.
Previous street protests against
Arroyo have had disappointing results, drawing only about 5,000
people, not the tens of thousands organizers had hoped.
Around 5 p.m., the protesters
symbolically released dozens of green balloons, which they said will
bring their prayers and sentiments to God.
There was a commotion among them
when reports circulated that the Air Transportation Office has
prevented a television news helicopter from flying over the protest
site.
Looking for the truth
Bishop Teodoro Bacani said it
became hard to tell the truth in the country after Lozada’s exposé
on the allegedly graft-tainted broadband deal.
Lozada earlier claimed that top
government officials sent him to Hong Kong to evade a Senate
investigation of the broadband deal with China’s ZTE Corp.
Bacani also appealed to former
socioeconomic planning Secretary Romulo Neri to come out and tell
the whole truth in the deal. Neri had invoked executive privilege in
refusing to attend Senate hearings on the scrapped project.
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar
Cruz led the crowd in shouting, “GMA resign!” three times on the
stage. GMA stands for the President’s full name, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Students and faculty members of
the University of the Philippines, De la Salle University,
University of Sto. Tomas, Polytechnic University of the Philippines
and Don Bosco College were among those who also attended the
protest.
Also seen among the crowd were
military reserve officers identified with the Magdaló group of
junior military officers.
Beefed up security
The Philippine National Police
had deployed at least 5,000 uniformed and civilian policemen
supposedly to assure the safety of protesters.
Makati Police Chief Supt. Gilbert
Cruz said at least 100 Makati police were doing the rounds within
the vicinity to avert any trouble before and during the protest.
National Capital Region Police
Office Director Geary Barias had fielded around 1,000 policemen from
nearby provinces in Makati City, besides the 4,000 scattered all
over Metro Manila.
--With AFP
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