KMU calls for public support for Mendiola Campout

Labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno called on the public today to give support to the Mendiola Campout protest against hunger and poverty, saying the protest is fighting for the country’s 99%.


After clashes with the police, with the latter employing overkill force against protestors, the Mendiola Campout protest has, starting on its second day yesterday, settled in Bustillos, Manila.


The protest, dubbed “Kampuhan Kontra Kaltas, Krisis at Kahirapan,” is being maintained by students, youth, workers, urban poor and other sectors calling for immediate relief from the intensifying hunger and poverty.


“The Mendiola Campout is giving voice to the demands of the majority of the country, the Philippines’ 99%. Let us strengthen the protest by showing and giving our support,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.


“You can give food, lend tents, disseminate the message and updates through social networking sites. The best form of support, of course, is joining the protest even for a few hours every day,” he added.


Until Human Rights Day


KMU said that the protest will be in place until Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day.


“The protest will be there on Dec. 10 to call for the upholding of the economic and political rights of the country’s majority. It will call for the immediate release of the country’s political prisoners, some 365 among whom are holding a hunger strike right now,” Labog said.


“We participants in the Mendiola Campout have ourselves seen the violation of our right to peaceably assembly and express our grivances in holding this protest. High-profile violations of the people’s right to free expression within the Human Rights Week is a clear proof of the Aquino government’s lack of commitment to upholding human rights,” he added.


“The free exercise of our human rights is not something granted freely by the government; it is something that we the people should stand up and fight for,” he said. Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU Chairperson