Thursday, August 21, 2008 Balas boys immortalize protest with tattoos By Ian Ocampo Flora
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Despite the pain and virtually being "marked for life," the former members of the Biyaya A Luluguran at Sisikapan (Balas) had themselves tattooed on Wednesday to keep themselves reminded of their campaign and "sad fate."
According to Eduard de Leon, former Balas supervisor, all 40 dismissed members of Balas have undergone the tattooing process to express their "unity and brotherhood" in their campaign to call for the resignation of Provincial Administrator Vivian Dabu.
The tattoo marks were placed on their left arms and bears the inscription "Balas Boys 08-11-08." De Leon said the date pertains to their rally calling for the resignation of Dabu.
The protesting Balas Boys said they have been steadfast on their call for resignation of Dabu and for Governor Eddie Panlilio to abide by what was agreed during the dialogue at the Social Action Center of Pampanga (Sacop) recently.
Almost two weeks of protest has yielded nothing so far for the protestors.
Panlilio allegedly failed to abide by the Sacop's dialogue agreement for the "unconditional reinstatement" of the quarry task force members, whose services were earlier terminated by Dabu for staging a rally in front of the Capitol two months ago.
Prior to their rally, they were protesting their demotion, which was made after alleged anomalies and complaints in quarry monitoring surfaced. The disgruntled Balas members called for the resignation of Dabu. But civil society groups were able to persuade the Balas employees to meet with Panlilio at Sacop.
The meeting was attended by civil society groups Kasaup and Kapampangan Marangal, Inc. at Sacop and moderated by Rev. Fr. Deo Galang.
"We will see this through and we will not surrender in our campaign," de Leon said.
In an interview with Panlilio, the governor said the protesting Balas members will no longer be reinstated to their posts because they repeated their protest rally in front of the Capitol. He said there's no amicable settlement on the issue.
"It appears that there is a deadlock but certainly they (Balas protesters) will not be taken back," Panlilio said.
Despite this, the former Balas members have not ran out of creative ways of expressing their grievances including playing recorded monologues and jingles mimicking Panlilio's campaign materials and signature campaigns calling for Dabu's resignation.
