VARIOUS groups in Bacolod City staged mobilizations to welcome the inauguration on Thursday of former Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as the 16th President of the Philippines.
Hours before Duterte was sworn in, members of Negros Island Region (NIR) Team Duterte held a motorcade in the city’s major thoroughfares, kicking off from the Bacolod Government Center going to their headquarters at BBB Galo Street.
The activity is part of the group’s Negros People’s Festival for Change and Federalism.
They also conducted free medical and legal services in the morning, and held the blessing of the NIR Team Duterte headquarters.
At noon, the group watched together the live telecast of Duterte’s oath-taking rites from Malacañang.
NIR Team Duterte spokesperson Archie Baribar said they also launched the Kilusang Pagbabago, a group that will help in the information dissemination from the grass roots level about federalism, which is the thrust of the Duterte administration.
In the afternoon, about 300 members of militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Negros and its allied organizations staged a unity march in the city’s streets to welcome the inauguration of Duterte.
Bayan-Negros Secretary-General Christian Tuayon said in a press statement they express unity with the Duterte administration “in support to the new president’s pro-people program with full hopes of leading the country towards genuine social change.”
“We welcome the Duterte administration’s crusade for change, but the change must be anchored on the fundamental problems of Philippine society like landlessness, unemployment, and foreign intervention to fulfill the aspiration of the Filipino people for change and progress,” Tuayon added.
He said that Bayan-Negros is optimistic with the policy statements of the Duterte administration like the resumption of peace talks, amnesty of political detainees, and end of contractualization.
Tuayon also said they are upbeat on the appointments of Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano and Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, who are both from the militant left. (GYM with reports from PNA)