The rallies in celebration of the 22nd anniversary of the Edsa People Power I and in support of ZTE-NBN deal whistleblower Rodolfo Lozada Jr. yesterday, drew mixed views from protestors and observers as to the motives behind them, and their effects.

Alejandra Daguha, 29, a sugarcane farm worker from Brgy. Busay, Bago City, Negros Occidental, said she joined the protests to help fight for “just wages.”

Daguha, who said she has been a member of the party list group, Gabriela for a year now, added that people like her have been working hard in sugarcane fields for very meager pay.

“We just want to fight for our livelihood,” she said.

Jojo Puentevera, 31, meanwhile, was cynical on the goals of the mass action.

Puentevera, a driver plying the Airport-Central Market route, said calls for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo through rallies are somehow useless because the “big people” in Manila will still be the ones who will handle the situation anyway.

“Even if she resigns, I will still be a driver…What is important for people like me is to find money to support my family everyday,” Puentevera told the DAILY STAR.

He added, though, that if drivers will organize a strike against the government, he will join it.

Rowena Bañes, chairperson of the University of St. La Salle psychology department, said the mixed reactions from the public are results of the “diffusion of many intentions” among the participants.

She said that, unlike during the time of former president Ferdinand Marcos, the power of street protests have relatively waned today because of varied motives of different groups pushing for changes in the government.

“At the end of the day, it all boils down to intentions,” Bañes, who observed the rally at the Bacolod public plaza, said yesterday.

As protesters at the plaza sang “Bayan Ko” to cap the initiative, Joshua Alba, 42, a chicharon and bottled water vendor, wiped tears from his face.

Asked by the DAILY STAR what made him cry, Alba, who said business was slow yesterday, said, “I believe in these people’s cause and I remembered Marcos’ time.”*PP

back to top