On Bonifacio Day, various interest groups, grass roots organizations and religious and laity came together to amplify the call of pursuing a Philippines that emphasizes people’s welfare over profit, exercises political will and sovereignty in the face of efforts to influence its policy direction to favor foreign and elite interests and considerations.
In St. Joseph the Worker Parish near Cloverleaf, Balintawak, Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME) and Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KILUSAN) conducted a short program with speakers hailing from grass roots organizations as well as from the religious and laity.
The speeches drew parallelism from the struggle that Andres Bonifactio spearheaded with the formation of the Katipunan when the country was under Spanish Colonial rule and control and how present issues like poverty, joblessness, hunger and threats of foreign powers to undermine the will of the Filipino people mirror the issues face by the Katipuneros of the past.
After the program, the two groups marched out of the Parish and laid a wreath at the foot of the cry of Balintawak Shrine and recited a short Pledge to the Mother Land (Panata para sa Inang Bayan) which ended with the famous lines – “Aling pag-ibig pa ang hihigit kaya sa pagkadalisay at pagkadakila, gaya ng pag-ibig sa tinubuang lupa”.
We want to inspire people to look at the present not with apathy or fatalism but as a challenge that a people who have collectively expressed their will can change the course of history for the better and make real the words enshrined in the Constitution that the economy is for and in behalf of Filipinos, for foreigners nor corporate and elite interests,” Jimmy Regalario KME.
“Bonifacio’s life and contributions continue to inspire us to dream of a better Pilipinas – hindi isang binansagang Bagong Pilipinas sa tawag ngunit lumang Pilipinas pa rin sa esensya nito,” added Primo Amparo of KILUSAN#
