MILITANT groups welcomed President Benigno Aquino III along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City with a rally, as they have done with previous presidents, every fourth Monday of July.
Aquino passed through Commonwealth en route to the Batasan Pambansa Complex where both Houses of Congress assembled to listen to him deliver his first State of the Nation Address.
In his speech, Aquino said his government was inheriting empty coffers, and government corporations whose board members were fat cats who rewarded themselves with huge compensation packages.
But leaders of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and affiliated groups were disappointed at what they called his lack of vision and long term solutions to the country’s pressing problems.
VERA Files’ Mario Ignacio mingled with the protesters and filed these photos.