Anti-GMA groups stage protest today

 Opposition forces are all set to stage a protest action today to denounce “poverty and corruption” under the Arroyo administration.

Groups aligned with the United Opposition (UNO), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Edsa 3 Coalition, Laban ng Masa, and Be Not Afraid Movement will come together at Plaza Miranda in Manila this afternoon.

“We expect at least 5,000 participants, from labor, urban poor, and farmers’ groups, in this first anti-Arroyo rally that would highlight economic issues side by side with corruption in government,” Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said.

The scheduled rally comes in the wake of rising prices of basic commodities, especially rice, flour, and fuel; as well as a global food crisis.

The groups have been calling government moves to avert the rice crisis as mere “token” actions that do not provide long-term food security and protection for consumers amidst continuously soaring prices of commodities.

“We have been demanding, for instance, the scrapping of the 12-percent value-added tax on oil products in order to provide immediate relief for consumers, but the administration is apparently ignoring our calls,” Reyes noted.

The militant groups said the government has yet to shed light on the P728-million fertilizer fund scam, even as farmers recently called for an investigation into how a P3.1-billion fund was spent since it was supposed to be for the establishment and repair of various irrigation facilities in different farmlands nationwide.  – Katherine Adraneda