MILITANT group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Negros said the speech of President Rodrigo Duterte in his third State of the Nation Address (Sona) Monday, July 23, was "sugarcoated."
Around 4,000 participants from Bayan-Negros marched on Monday from two kickoff points - Lupit Church and Capitol Park and Lagoon – to the Bacolod City public plaza, where they burned Duterte's effigy, "Dutertemonyo."
The effigy symbolized the lies and failed promises of Duterte.
Michael de la Concepcion, secretary-general of Bayan-Negros, said Duterte's points do not reflect the real situation in the country.
"It was more on lip service," he added.
De la Concepcion said Duterte failed to address the land reform program, claiming that only the rich and foreigners benefit the program.
He also said that Duterte's statement on endo (end of contract) is also "misleading" because the government failed to regularize contractual employees, which he had promised to do during his presidency.
They also slammed Duterte for destroying the environment by allowing mining companies to continue their operations despite its destruction on natural resources.
The group also hit back at the president for not giving options for rehabilitation and education of persons with problems on illegal drugs.
"It only shows that he is not yet ready to solve the drug menace in the country," de la Concepcion said.
In the morning, about 90 individuals clad in black shirts marched from the Provincial Capitol Park and Lagoon to the Negros Press Club (NPC), while doing a symbolic ringing and raising of voices against charter change (Chacha) and Federalism.
The groups led by citizens’ coalition Paghimud-os Negros marched on the streets for its "no to Cha-Cha" campaign.
Former Negros Occidental governor Rafael Coscolluela, co-convenor of Paghimud-os Negros, during a press conference at the NPC, said there should be a formulation of a genuine people’s agenda to get involves the people and not just those in the government.
Coscolluela’s raised points on insult in all sectors, corruption in government offices, bad behaviors, and misgovernance, among others against Duterte.
"Indi mayo ang pagbabago" (Change is not good), Coscolluela said, adding that Duterte still failed to fulfill his promises and address more urgent problems.
He is hoping that people will be open to the reality.
(Security assessment)
The Police Regional Office (PRO)-Western Visayas said the security coverage for this year's Sona was successful.
A total of 1,192 personnel were deployed all over the region comprising of 884 contingents from the Civil Disturbance Management (CDM), 290 intelligence personnel and 18 personnel from the Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD).
Around 2,430 people from different parts of the region convened in the designated areas in the provinces and cities to hold their peaceful mass actions.
Generally, Sona 2018 is peaceful with no significant incident recorded for the period and no complaint received against police officers who were deployed to secure the engagement areas for violation of rights of the rallyists or protesters, a press release said.
This could be attributed to the security preparations of the regional headquarters and the disciplined attendees of the different assemblies who also did their part for the event to end peacefully.