Enzo Manzano, son of veteran actor Edu Mazano, staged two solo protests in New York against President Duterte and the Philippine government for “taking away my people’s basic human rights”.
In Facebook posts on June 17, the US-based Enzo shared photos and a video from the three-hour protest action he made outside the United Nations Headquarters, holding handwritten placards denouncing the current events in his home country.
“It only makes me more angry whenever news of our government comes out in the Philippines. The feeling of being useless doesn’t help either — whether it’s because I’m in New York or the government keeps coming up with ways to silence us back home,” he said.
Enzo claimed that he was never the type to protest “but at this point with all that the Philippine government is doing, it’s either you’re fighting to keep your country alive or not.”
“Sucks to hear that my fellow Filipinos can’t protest back home… I hope my lone protest can make up for that. At least a little bit,” he added.
In a separate Facebook post, Enzo also shared his “second day of protesting” held in front the Consulate General of the Philippines.
According to Enzo, he did the protest for his fellow Filipinos as he “can’t stand the thought of what our home is turning into.”
“I am doing this for each and every one of you. It hurts to be away from our country and to see this happen. Things have dramatically changed since I’ve left and it’s only been 2 1/2 years so far,” he said.
“There are multiple efforts to silence and scare you, but I hope we can make my protests loud enough for the world to see and hear!” he stressed.
While Enzo didn’t specify issues he was fighting for, his actions came on the heels of online as well as street protests last Philippine Independence Day, June 12, calling on Congress to junk the Anti-Terrorism bill.
His first post has since gone viral with 11,000 reactions and 3,000 shares on Facebook.
