KADAMAY gears up for 5-minute blockade of major roads on March 20 people's protest

Urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY), in a press conference in Quezon City this morning, announces its plan to mobilize tens of thousand of its members, and allied urban poor groups in temporarily blocking major thoroughfares nationwide for five minutes on the March 20 people's protest.  

According to Gloria Arellano, KADAMAY national chairperson, the temporary road blockades would be necessary to halt plans of the Aquino administration to privatize public hospitals in the country which the leader said will lay thousands of indigent patients nationwide to their graveyards. Arellano said that the March 20 people will serve as among the peaks of KADAMAY's campaign against privatization of medical services which started in November in 2012. 

In last year's people's protest against oil overpricing and oil price increases, KADAMAY led some 700 protesters from North Triangle in blocking the Northbound lane of the Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue (EDSA) creating minor traffic jam in the country's busiest thoroughfare. 

"This year, we ensure that the urban poor's symbolic road blockades will be bolder and nationwide in scope," according to Arellano who said that more thoroughfares are to be temporarily blocked on March 20 including Sucat Road, Mindanao Avenue, C3 Road, Payatas Road among other initial targets for road blockades in Metro Manila. 

All of KADAMAY chapters nationwide are expected to temporarily block major thoroughfares at exactly 5pm on March 20.

Arellano added that as of press time, they are still waiting for reports from our chapters in Metro Davao, Metro Cebu, Metro Baguio and other chapters in the regions as to their partricular plans on March 20. 

"There is an urgent need for the Filipino people to block the impending privatization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center (POC) in the coming months, as the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center and the Department of Health is due to award to the winning bidder the contract of the 'Modernization of the POC' by May this year," said Arellano.

"The implementation of MPOC which is among the priority PPP projects of the Aquino administration will expedite the privatization of at least 30 public hospitals in the country," Arellano added.

While the general theme of the people's protest this March is against pressing price hikes and privatization, KADAMAY said they will also bring up the issue of demolition of urban poor communities due to different PPP infrastructure projects. According to KADAMAY-NCR, in Metro Manila alone, some 1.4 million families will be evicted from their communities to give way to the implementation of the first 50 PPP infrastructure projects of the Aquino administration. ### 

Reference: Gloria Arellano, KADAMAY National Chair, 0921.392.7457