3 Missing, 34 Hurt In Mendiola Youth Rally Dispersal

By Jhong dela Cruz
Posted 6:50 p.m. July 7, 2006

At least 34 youth activists were hurt during a march-rally toward Mendiola when police forcibly dispersed them. Six demonstrators remain unaccounted for as of press time.

About 900 youth belonging to Youth-DARE or Youth Demanding Arroyo's Removal tried to reach Mendiola, the bridge leading to the presidential palace and traditional venue of anti-government demonstrations, to protest the government's renewed anti-insurgency drive.

At about 3 p.m., the protesters composed of students from 16 colleges in Metro Manila and residents of three urban poor communities led by the Kabataan Party, held a brief program at Morayta Street near España Avenue. After the program, they marched near the University of Manila where some 20 policemen attacked them, rally leaders said.

Among those injured was Juan Paolo Alfonso, student council chair of the University of the Philippines-Diliman and Vencer Ramos, chair of the League of Filipino Students. They plan to file formal complaints against the police.

Earlier, the groups reported 10 youth protestors could not immediately be found, including an eight-year old from a community in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

President Arroyo has come under fire upon announcement of the P1 billion fund to beef up the government's anti-insurgency drive. The fund, said militant youth groups, should have just been used to buttress the education sector. "May pera sa gera, wala sa iskwela" (There is money for war but not for education) was the main slogan during the protest action.

Meanwhile, the recent wave of abductions by suspected military agents of activists include student victims: University of the Philippines students Karen Empeño, 23, and Sherlyn Cadapan, 25, who were seized together with a local farmer by unidentified armed men in Hagonoy, Bulacan on June 26.

This week, the youth groups declared the youth's "all-out war" against the Arroyo government, swearing to conduct more protest forms in the light of intensifying human rights violations in the country.