Bayan-Australia holds protest during Marcos’ state visit

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. delivers his message at Maharlika Villamor Airbase, Pasay City, before he left for Canberra, Australia on Wednesday morning, February 28, 2024. Marcos will address the Australian Parliament during his two-day visit. He will return to the country on Thursday. (INQUIRER PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA)

MANILA, Philippines — Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Australia and other groups from Melbourne, Sydney, and Queensland staged a protest at the Australian Parliament Hill building during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s address. 

In a statement, Bayan said Greens Senator Janet Rice likewise raised a protest placard saying “Stop the human rights abuses” during Marcos’ speech inside the building and was escorted out of Parliament. 

The group said Rice joined them outside the building and was later accompanied by other Greens members, Senator Jordon-Steele John and Senator David Shoebridge, who also “denounced Canberra and Manila’s foreign relations policies in lockstep with US imperialist interests.” 

The senators also said that the Philippines must develop its independent foreign policy and urged other Australian Parliament members to oppose the AUKUS alliance and joint military drills in the Asia-Pacific area. 

Bayan-Australia commended their act for speaking up for the truth about the US-Marcos regime. It likewise denounced the current administration’s Charter change agenda — which it claimed may only “worsen the economic crisis being experienced by the majority of Filipinos today under the US-Marcos regime.”