Postcards from the ASEAN Sugbo Protests

Here are some intermittent snapshots during the ASEAN Summit protests in Cebu City from January 10-15, 2007.

VOYAGERS FOR PEACE ARRIVE IN CEBU

Left: Reported Navy personnel (complete with metal shields and hard hats--the ones used by construction wokers) block the Bicol contingent of the VOYAGERS FOR PEACE from getting out of Pier 3 at the Cebu City Port at around 7 a.m. last January 12.
Center: A 10:00 PM salubong (with lanterns and streamers) for the VOYAGERS FOR PEACE Manila contingent at Pier 6.
Right: The salubong for the Manila, Bohol, and Bicol contingents were covered by our friends from both local and national media. One particularly resourceful (and agile) camera crew member hitches a ride atop the last jeepney filled with protestors and covers the event from his mobile station.

U.S. OUT OF SOUTHEAST ASIA: A sea-based protest on Talisay's shores against U.S. military presence in SEA by Kalikasan-PNE, Pamalakaya, BAYAN, KMP, Anakpawis, and the local community. Activist swimmers, environmentalists and fisherfolk swam for around 300 meters, surrounded by Navy patrols, and burned the U.S. flag while standing in waist-deep waters.

PHILIPPINE GOV'T No. 1 HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATOR IN ASIA: Those who denounce GMA as a hypocrite for calling for democracy in Burma during the ASEAN Summit have every right to do so. Among the issues that demonstrators from various provinces have brought up are the continuing extrajudicial killings of activists, the most recent of which happened in Bicol (left). Activists from Central VIsayas also cap the VOYAGERS FOR PEACE cultural night with a presentation on the life of slain environmental activist and BAYAN Bohol Vice-Chairperson Vic Olayvar (center).

BEHIND THE BILLBOARDS: Sight-seeing at an ancestral mansion after the rallies? Nah! We're just posing in front of a giant tarpaulin billboard along Osmena Ave. claiming to showcase the 'wonders of Cebu'. Dozens of these brightly-lit billboards were erected during the Summit preparations and now line the city's major avenues along with banderitas and other festive decor for the Sinulog fiesta.

What the snapshots don't show are the numerous vendors and street children hidden in the shadows of these prominent billboards.