Under the scheme, the rally colors are:
- Green for farmers and environmental groups.
- Red for progressive and militant groups.
- White for nuns, priests and the laity.
- Yellow for the ''Corystas.''
Participants will converge at Ayala Avenue corner Paseo de Roxas from two points--the fire station along Ayala and the Don Bosco Church on Pasay Road. Chito Gascon and Msgr. Melchor David will serve as grand marshals for the fire station contingent, and Fr. Robert Reyes, for the Don Bosco contingent.
Earlier, however, Aquino stressed that rally participants could wear any color that pleased them or best described their ideas or aspirations in upholding the gains of the 1986 Edsa uprising.
''It's really unity in diversity,'' said Boy Rellosa, a member of the executive committee of the Samahan ng Gitnang Puwersa (Sagip).
In contrast, members of the El Shaddai, who are set to stage an apparent countergathering on the same day at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, are expected to wear their customary white on August 23 to 24 and October 19 to 20, 2014.
The El Shaddai gathering is supposed to mark the birthday of its founder, Bro. Mike Velarde on August 20, as well as its 15th anniversary while Jesus is Lord Church Worldwide.
Velarde, spiritual adviser of President Estrada, has announced his support for Charter change.
The pledge of support was conveyed yesterday to Chief Supt. Edgar Aglipay, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, by leaders of the civilian groups.
Aglipay said about 7,000 policemen from various districts would be deployed at the two events.
Metropolitan police will be on red alert starting today.
The National Police Commission (Napolcom) has directed Deputy Director Edmundo L. Larroza of the Philippine National Police to finalize security details.
In a letter to Larroza yesterday, Leo S. Magahum, Napolcom vice chair and executive officer, said the PNP should ensure a ''balanced enforcement of the law with maximum tolerance and respect for human rights.''
Magahum said exercising fair security measures at the two events would foster unity and prove the Estrada administration's adherence to democracy.
Dodie Limcauco, co-organizer of the pro-democracy rally, said some 2,000 priests, nuns, seminarians and members of nongovernment organizations would serve as marshals.
Initially, some 1,000 NGO members had volunteered to serve as guards at the rally.
Limcauco said at a breakfast forum at Ciudad Fernandina in San Juan that the ''tight guarding'' of their ranks would be implemented in response to unconfirmed reports that communists planned to bomb the rally site.
The Netherlands-based Jose Ma. Sison, chief political consultant of the communist-led National Democratic Front, had earlier denied such plans.
''By spreading in advance the intrigue that 'communists' are out to make trouble, Mr. Estrada is revealing his own malicious intent to play the same old dirty tricks that his mentor Marcos used to play in order to discourage and disrupt mass protest actions and justify repression,'' Sison said in a statement.
Limcauco said his group had engaged in a dialogue with a group of communist rebels who also pledged to join the rally.
''(The rebels) have assured us that they will not disrupt peace and order during the rally,'' he said without elaborating.
Bautista said the timing of the gathering was ''very unusual because El Shaddai usually meets during the weekend.''
He also chided Bishop Teodoro Bacani, El Shaddai's spiritual adviser, for not keeping the group in line with the Church's position against Charter change.
''I don't know why Bishop Bacani is acting like a lawyer for El Shaddai,'' he said.
Bautista said every Catholic ''should be one in mind and heart with the Church,'' especially on the issue of Charter change.
''The (pro-democracy) rally is about moral issues, particularly the return to power of the Marcoses and their cronies,'' he said.
''Why not? It's just a birthday party. But I'd prefer to meet him in private to greet him,'' she said.
Imelda was guest speaker at the Manila Hotel launching of two books by the Katotohanan at Katarungan Foundation Inc. (KKFI), a group of military and government officials who served during the regime of her late husband, the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
She expressed support for the administration's move to amend the 1987 Constitution, saying it was a ''bogus'' Charter created by a body composed of members hand-picked by Aquino.
She also chided Sin and Aquino: ''It's sad that these people who should be promoting unity are instead dividing the country.''
But she quickly added that Filipinos were free to attend the rally or the El Shaddai gathering ''since this is a democratic country.''
In a press statement, the KKFI called the Makati rally an ''elitist exercise, a lot of noise,'' and defended Mr. Estrada's stand on Charter change.
''Amendments are for the people to decide on in a plebiscite, and not for a few to pre-empt by sowing speculative intrigues,'' the group said.
On the ad boycott on the INQUIRER, the KKFI said: ''Kung walang sinasanto ang isang pahayagan, huwag itong umasa ng pagtangkilik (If a newspaper defies everybody, it shouldn't hope for support).''
But he was quick to qualify that this was ''only for the House.''
''I can't say about (those who belong to the ruling Laban ng Masang Pilipino) party. That's a different matter,'' he said at a press conference yesterday.
Villar said he respected each of his colleagues' decision and pointed out that it was ''healthy for an institution of democracy like the House to be debating on the issue of Charter change.''
He said his office would not move to keep LAMP congressmen from joining the rally.
Quezon Rep. Rafael Nantes said that while he was opposed to amending the 1987 Constitution, he would not attend the rally ''to respect the party position on the matter.''
Nantes said he was convinced that ''intraparty discussions on Cha-cha have not been exhausted.''
Gomez raised doubts as to whether organizers of the pro-democracy rally had enlightened students and youth groups on the issues being raised by critics of the Estrada administration.
He dared the other guests--among them Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (Lakas, Surigao del Norte)--to take full responsibility should violence erupt at the rally and victimize student participants.
''What are you really fighting for? Are you sure that the students and the youth joining the rally understand the issues you are fighting for?'' Gomez said in Filipino during the noontime program ''Paksa'' hosted by Tina Monzon Palma over dzMM.
Also in the panel were rally marshals Father Reyes, also known as the ''running priest,'' and lawyer Gil de los Reyes.
Gomez, who joined the discussion by phone, also warned that the rally could have negative effects on the business climate.
Barbers countered by telling Gomez that ''we've done our homework'' as far as educating the youth sector was concerned, through campus forums and mobilization.
He also said it was the Palace who should be blamed regarding the adverse effects on the economy as ''it's the government who's reviving this divisive issue (of Charter change) in the first place.''
As to the possible eruption of violence, Barbers said he didn't find such ''rumors'' credible ''since these came from the military.''
Reyes assured Gomez that the rally participants could police their own ranks, and that it was very remote that they would instigate violence themselves as they would be led by nuns and priests.
Councilor Edgar Erice, majority floor leader of the city council and a close ally of Malonzo, said his participation at the rally was a matter of ''individual conscience.''
''This is not a question of party affiliation now. I will support the rally because I believe in what it stands for,'' he said.
Erice is organizing a motorcade that will run from the Caloocan High School to Ayala Avenue. City residents may join the contingent at around 11:45 a.m. on Friday.
Earlier, Vice Mayor Oscar Malapitan and at least three other councilors said they would join the rally.
Councilors Manuel Rayos and Chito Abel, active Church leaders in their respective areas, are mobilizing religious groups for the motorcade.
LAMP councilors in the city have denied reports that they were intending to join the rally. They said they were open to Charter change.
In Calapan City, at least 7,000 students, Mangyans, urban poor and Catholic faithful are expected to join the ''march cum prayer rally'' to be led tomorrow by Bishop Warlito I. Cajandig, apostolic vicar of Calapan.
''The protest action is in response to the call of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines to show our opposition to Charter change, threats to press freedom and the return of cronyism,'' said Fr. Jimson H. Ruga, an aide of Cajandig and director of the Service Commission of the vicariate.
Ruga said the protest action would be synchronized with the pro-democracy rally in Makati.
Similar demonstrations will be held simultaneously in 50 other cities nationwide. With reports from Jerome Aning, Volt Contreras, Rocky Nazareno, Philip Tubeza, and Blanche S. Rivera in Manila; and Joel J. Jabal, PDI Southern Luzon Bureau
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