While the protest for the commemoration of the First Quarter Storm’s ‘Battle of Mendiola’ was ongoing on January 30, a pro-Duterte group mostly in their senior years, was conducting their own program at the adjacent lane in Mendiola.
With sound system blaring, they expressed their support to the current administration. Tarpaulins were hung at the aisle calling for a ‘Duterte revolutionary government.’
A tarp hung by the pro-Duterte rally caught the attention of Ariel Jebulan, chairperson of Sining Bugkos, a cultural alliance based in Metro Manila.
The image was copied by the pro-Duterte group from the from the Facebook page of May Pagasa and placed with the pro-Duterte group name. The image of May Pagasa depicts the people asserting their national sovereignty with a raised fist pointing at the direction of an American eagle.
“Bakit niyo po ginamit ang aming imahe?,” asked Jebulan at the person tying the tarp to the center aisle.
[Why did you copy our image?]
The person then ignored Jebulan and just moved away. Other people in the pro-Duterte rally who were just before that encounter taking photos and videos of the other rally also left quickly.
The image copied by the pro-Duterte group, oftentimes referred as DDS or Duterte Diehard Supporters (which these groups named themselves and critics also use in mockery), is the thematic poster of Sining Bugkos and Anakbayan Metro Manila’s campaign May Pagasa [there is hope]. The title of the campaign is the pseudonym of KKK founder and revolutionary leader Andres Bonifacio.
What did paying tribute to Bonifacio mean to the Sining Bugkos and Anakbayan Metro Manila? They wanted to embody Bonifacio’s action and intentions – true national liberation from foreign colonizers.
The May Pagasa campaign is ‘a gathering and a call for the renewal of nationalist fervor among youth and artists with the recognition that foreign interests continue to encroach on the politics, economy and culture of the Philippines.’
The campaign was launched on June 12, 2014, coinciding with the Independence Day declaration that they said rings hollow amid continued US incursions in the country. Prof. Jose Maria Sison discussed US imperialism to a fully-packed UP Cine Adarna led by Anakbayan Metro Manila members.
The pro-Duterte group appropriated the image to support a Duterte ‘revolutionary government’ that Sining Bugkos found contrary to the image’s meaning.
“Hindi namin ipagkakait yung imahe kung magagamit sa tamang konteksto at diwa nito. Pero wala itong lugar sa mga pro-Duterte rally kasi si Duterte naman ay sunud-sunuran sa interes ng US at China kahit pa yung mamamayang Pilipino ang magdusa,” said Jebulan.
[We will not refuse others’ use of the image if it is used in the right context and essence. But it does not have a place in a pro-Duterte rally because Duterte is subservient to the interests of US and China even though the Filipino people suffers.]
He said Duterte had strong remarks against the US, declaring the cancellation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) following his friend Senator Ronald Dela Rosa’s US visa cancellation, yet the VFA remains in place.
“Hindi siya anti-US, pro-US siya, pro-China siya, kahit pa matapakan yung soberanya ng bansa gaya ng ginawa sa Marawi, yung gagawing Kaliwa dam, yung pagpapaubaya sa China sa West Philippine Sea saka ‘yung mas madalas at mas maraming sundalong ‘Kano na pinapapasok sa VFA at mas masahol at ‘di pantay na kasunduan sa US na EDCA. Kahit mawala yung VFA, may EDCA pa rin naman,” added Jebulan.
[He’s not anti-US, he is pro-US, pro-China, even the country’s sovereignty is trampled, like what happened in Marawi, in the planned Kaliwa dam, his waiver of West Philippine Sea to China and the more frequent and more soldiers entering the country through VFA and the more unequal agreement with US, the EDCA. Even when the VFA is cancelled, there is still EDCA.]
Jebulan said Duterte’s harsh talk against the US following the cancellation of Senator Ronald Dela Rosa’s US visa does not mean anything unless he abolishes VFA, EDCA, Mutual Defense Treaty and other unequal agreements the Philippines has with the US.
The EDCA or Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, an executive agreement with an initial 10-year term forged during the previous administration of Benigno Aquino III, grants the US to build bases in various parts of the country and for their soldiers to stay in these bases. Activists saw the EDCA as a worse violation of sovereignty than VFA and a discreet way for US bases to return to the country. In the EDCA, the US will be granted access to agreed locations without rental or similar fees and will also have authority over these areas the US will build or occupy.
The ‘Battle of Mendiola’ rally also took aim at the pro-Duterte ‘revolutionary government.’
“Hindi kailanman magiging rebolusyonaryo ang isang pasistang diktadura,” said Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) spokesperson Teddy Casiño.
[A fascist dictator can never be a revolutionary.]
“Si Marcos noon ay nagpanggap na rebolusyonaryo. Nagpanggap na makabayan si Duterte. May rebolusyonaryo bang mamamatay-tao? May rebolusyonaryo bang corrupt? May rebolusyonaryo bang tuta ng U.S at China?” asked Casiño at the crowd gathered at Mendiola.
[Marcos then pretended to be a revolutionary. Duterte pretended to be a revolutionary. Is there a revolutionary who is a killer? Is there a revolutionary who is corrupt? Is there a revolutionary who is a puppet of US and China?]
“Wala!” replied the crowd in unison.
[None!]
