Philippines | Protesters, police clash ahead of Aquino speech

Protesters clash with police as they try to make their way to the House of Representatives ahead of the State of the Nation Address by Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, pictured on a poster, in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila

Left-wing protesters clashed with riot police amid a downpour yesterday as they tried to breach a barricade of barbed wire and shipping containers ahead of the Philippine president’s final state of the nation address.
Some of the approximately 4,000 drenched protesters started to push away the metal cargo containers and iron railings blocking them from getting close to the House of Representatives in suburban Quezon city where President Benigno Aquino III was to deliver his speech later yesterday, police said.
At least three policemen and 16 protesters were injured when authorities used water cannon to push back the activists, who hurled rocks and bottles at the police, according to police and Red Cross volunteers.
The most popular Philippine president for three decades, Aquino, 55, whose six-year term ends next June, was expected to report on the progress of his fight against corruption and poverty, his campaign battle cry that landed him a landslide victory.
But problems have persisted in a Southeast Asian country where about a fourth of its 100 million people remain mired in long-entrenched poverty. Communist and Muslim insurgencies that have raged on and off for more than four decades have combined with natural disasters in the typhoon-prone archipelago and law and order problems to turn governance into a tough and complex dilemma.
As he prepares to endorse a candidate for next year’s election, Aquino has been meeting with potential contenders including Senator Grace Poe and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and is expected to name his preferred candidate this week.
Lawmakers at the opening session of parliament yesterday pledged to pass a bill creating a new Muslim autonomous region before its end next year. Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and Senate President Franklin Drilon said in separate speeches that they would also push measures to curb smuggling and toughen a law to sustain infrastructure programs.
May’s poll will see Filipinos elect a president, vice president, senators and congressmen, and all local officials down to city councilors. AP/Bloomberg