rss

rss

MANILA — Marking the second week of nationwide transport strikes, women and youth march alongside various transportation groups, supporting their demands to remove the value added tax (VAT) on oil, repeal the Oil Deregulation Law, increase living wages, and condemn the US-Israel war on Iran.

Youth, environmental and women groups march again alongside various transportation groups, supporting their demands to remove Value Added Tax, repeal the Oil Deregulation Law, increase living wages, and condemning the US-Isreal war on Iran.

After two weeks of transport strikes, groups assert that the Marcos administration has done nothing substantial to quell the ongoing energy crisis.

For youth environmentalists like Fracheska Atienza of Saribuhay UP Diliman, the fight alongside drivers is the same as resisting corporate mining and the struggle for climate justice. She emphasized that everybody, particularly the poorest of the poor, is affected by the decisions made by those in power and by US imperialism.

“We, the youth, fight for our future, and for the people. Regardless of sector, everyone is affected by these social ills, and we [the youth] have to fight for the future we will inherit,” she said in Filipino.

Because the Philippines imports nearly 98 percent of its oil, Atienza related the oil hike to neoliberal policies such as the Oil Deregulation Law that gives market power to corporations with little to no government regulation. She further stressed that the US and Israel should both be held accountable for the oil hike and the environmental plunder brought about by war.

While youth environmentalists assert their demands for a sustainable future, women like Candice Sering of Salinlahi Alliance of Children’s Concerns, shared the lived realities of children and mothers amid rising oil prices.

“Families are really struggling to make do with the limited funds, mothers–parents [sacrifice] a lot just to make ends meet…we have a lot of fathers who are jeepney drivers, so this man-made crisis really affects everyone, which is why we are protesting today,” Sering stated. Among her demands are the allocation of funds to the education sector and holding corrupt officials accountable.

In a statement, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) urged groups to keep mobilizing due to the inaction of the Ferdinand Marcos Jr administration, and to stand in solidarity against the US-Marcos Jr regime’s anti-people policies. (CAM, RVO)

Photos by Viggo Sarmago

The post Women, youth rally behind transportation groups amid increasing oil prices appeared first on Bulatlat.

From Bulatlat via This RSS Feed.