No Uni-Yellow alliance despite ‘kain-suka’ claims - ATOM Leader

Volt Bohol, one of the current leaders of the August Twenty-one Movement (ATOM), stressed that the Uni-Yellow alliance will not be accepted on their end despite several social media claims labeling them ‘Kain Suka’. 

“No matter how many trolls on social media say we’re ‘in cahoots’ (kain-suka), sorry to burst the bubble, but there will never be a Uni-Yellow alliance, at least not from us,” the ATOM leader said in Filipino.

In their official press release on Facebook, 7 March, the movement ATOM strongly opposed the possibility of a unified alliance between Marcos Jr. administration and Aquino supporters but will instead continue to uphold its principles.

“ATOM's yellow remains the same yellow that fought to bring down the Marcos dictatorship from 1983 to 1986. It is the same yellow that tried to welcome Ninoy Aquino on the day of August 21, 1983. It is the same yellow that is deeply rooted in the Filipino people's democratic values that mobilized from 1983 to 1986, and not rooted in a political party or a politician”, the ATOM said in their official statement. 

The group also symbolized former Philippine President Duterte as a symptom of the nation’s inability to tackle the root causes of its long-standing struggles.

“Former President Duterte is a symptom of our failure to address the cause of the illness of our nation. And that is our failure to hold the Conjugal Dictatorship of Marcos and Romualdez accountable during the post-EDSA 1986. No one went to jail”, ATOM said.

In his metaphorical statement, Bohol ended the movement’s press release by urging everyone to focus on addressing the fundamental causes of nation's problems rather than just surface issues like political divisiveness and alliances.

"When you have an illness, you don't just treat the symptoms; you treat the cause of the symptoms. What do you think happens when you just focus on and treat the symptoms of your illness? We've seen that in the last forty years”, the ATOM leader noted. 

ATOM was formed out of outrage and protest over the death of Ninoy Aquino Jr. on August 21, 1983. Its founders were Agapito “Butz” Aquino, Ninoy’s brother, and Reli German. Current leaders, in addition to Volt Bohol, include Bien Gonzales, Prof. Xiao Chua, Eiyo Aquino, among others.