1,000 urban poor to stage 'die-in protest' vs. privatization of public hospitals [Kadamay bares list of morning protests on Bonifacio Day]

MEDIA ADVISORY

November 29, 2012

1,000 urban poor to stage 'die-in protest' vs. privatization of public hospitals

Kadamay bares list of morning protests on Bonifacio Day

Wearing Bonifacio-style red scarfs and bearing dummies of Katipunero bolo, an estimated 1,000 urban poor members of Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap will join Bonifacio protest tomorrow, which the group marks as a Pambansang Araw ng Maralitang Lungsod laban sa Kahirapan, Kagutuman at Pambubusabos. 

November 30, Bonifacio Day

8:00am | Assembly at the National Housing Authority (Elliptical Road, QC)

8:30am-9:00am | Program at the NHA, 'Almusalang Bayan'

Ka Mameng Deunida, chairman emeritus of Kadamay, will lead other urban poor leaders in an "Almusalang Bayan" to illustrate poverty and hunger suffered by millions of urban poor under the Aquino administration amidst threats of demolition and eviction from their communities. They will feast on a basket of camote (sweet potatoes) to show how the Filipino poor are getting food-poor under the Aquino administration because of widespread lack of employment opportunities, meager wage and the rising costs of basic commodities.    

9am-10am | CARAVAN to Banawe cor Quezon Avenue

1015am | MARCH to Philippine Orthopedic Center, Short program and a DIE-IN PROTEST to be joined by an estimated 1,000 urban poor

Urban poor will decry the planned privatization of public hospitals under the Aquino administration, as the Department of Health has recently released invitation to interested investors to bid for the Modernization Philippine Orthopedic Center (MPOC) Project under the Public-Private Partnership Program. To condemn the privatization of POC and of more than 26 other public hospitals and medical facilities in the country, which Kadamay says will literally kill indigent patients, a thousand urban poor will stage a die-in protest in front of the POC.

After the die-in protest, Kadamay contingent will hold a caravan to the multi-sectoral assembly at the Bonifacio Shrine in Manila led by Kilusang Mayo Uno, from where they plan to march to US Embassy and Mendiola.

Kadamay's cultural group Sining-Kadamay will be doing a flag dance and other cultural presentations depicting the plight of the urban poor under the Aquino administration as part of the programs at the NHA and POC and as the urban poor groups march to the US Embassy and Mendiola in the afternoon.

MEDIA COVERAGE REQUESTED. PHOTO OPS AVAILABLE.

Reference: Val Jayson Dimayuga, Kadamay media officer, 0909.212.5478

For interview: Gloria Arellano, Kadamay national chairperson, 0921.392.7457