(Eagle News) — While anti-government protests had always accompanied State of the Nation Addresses of Philippine leaders and usually denounced alleged US interference in the country’s government, this time protest rallies against President Rodrigo Duterte’s SONA centered on his friendship and closeness with China.
In this report by Gerald Ranez of EBC’s Eagle News Service, militant groups clamped on the West Philippine sea issue to denounce President Duterte.
They also set fire to an effigy of President Duterte at around 4:40 p.m., even when the official program for President Duterte’s SONA was yet to start.
Police estimates that more than 5,000 protesters had converged in Commonwealth Avenue to stage their rallies against the President, while there were more than 3,000 pro-Duterte supporters that had a separate program at the IBP Road near Batasan Pambansa.
