Aquino calls for strike

Press, 18 February 1986, Page 6

Aquino calls for strike

NZPA-Reuter Manila The Philippines Opposition leader, Corazon Aquino, issued a call before more than a million supporters yesterday for a one-day general strike and a boycott of seven banks in protest against Parliament’s proclamation that President Ferdinand Marcos had been reelected.

Mrs Aquino, who asserts she was cheated of election victory by fraud, was introduced as “Your Excellency President Corazon Aquino, new President of the Republic of the Philippines.” She listed a seven-point plan of protest to a wildly cheering crowd in a Manila park. Mrs Aquino called for a day of prayer on the first working day after the inauguration of Mr Marcos for his fourth term, telling workers to stage stoppages and children to stay away from school. The plan included a boycott of San Miguel, a huge food and beverage conglomerate owned by a close friend of Mr Marcos, non-payment of water and electricity bills, and a boycott of pro-Marcos press.

Mrs Aquino said: “We come here not to celebrate the victory of Corazon Aquino and Doy Laurel but neither do we concede our defeat. We are here to proclaim the victory of the people.”

The seventh line of protest, said Mrs Aquino, should be decided by the people in line with a call by Catholic bishops for a non-violent struggle. Mrs Aquino maintains that her victory was stolen through the Assembly’s official count, which was conducted by Mr Marcos’s election campaign manager, the Speaker, Nicanor Yniguez. The Opposition, the Church hierarchy, and foreign poll observers have denounced also the election as fraudulent.

A reformist group in the Philippine Armed Forces, which said also that fraud was committed, has called on soldiers to refuse to use force against civilians who protest against the results.

In a statement issued to Opposition and independent newspapers, the Reform the Armed Forces Movement said: “The Filipino people are incensed by (election) anomalies and intend to show their indignation through peaceful and non-violent means until such time that the will of the people prevails.”

The semi-secret reformist group, which asserts that 60 per cent of the junior officer corps are its members, was launched early last year with the avowed aim of removing graft and corruption and professionalising the 250,000-strong military.