The Federation of Urban Poor (FedUP) in Negros Occidental aired their opposition to COVID-19 vaccines from China as they marked the 35th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution this morning, February 25.
Bearing Philippine flags and yellow ribbons, the FedUP members gathered in front of the statue of Ninoy Aquino at Araneta Street to lay flowers and pray for democracy to prevail.
“FedUP will not accept China-made vaccines. How can we trust a China-made vaccine when in the first place the virus came from them?” Joy Jarabelo, FedUP provincial coordinator, said.
“How can we trust China that has been bullying us?” she asked.
She also said China has “deprived us of our natural resources in the West Philippine Sea”.
The EDSA People Power Revolution must be celebrated, especially now when democracy is under threat from the current administration, Jarabelo stressed.
That is why FedUP is calling for broader unity to preserve democracy, she said.
FedUP stands firm against a revolutionary government, Charter Change, China’s occupation of the West Philippine Sea, and extra judicial killings, she said.
Meanwhile, Wennie Sancho, General Alliance of Workers Associations secretary-general, called on the workers never to forget the struggle of the people during the EDSA Revolution.
“We must keep the flame of EDSA burning in our hearts and minds. The spirit of EDSA symbolizes the solidarity of the people in toppling down a dictator which was a fulfillment of a dictum that sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them,” he said.
It is the people that can make and unmake leaders, Sancho said.
“EDSA will be a constant reminder for all of us that we shall never allow any dictator now or in the future to subjugate the people because we have the right to resist or refuse allegiance to a government when it becomes destructive of its end,” he said.*