Friday, January 12, 2007 Protesters kept to sea waters off Talisay City
SOME 100 members of the Kilusang Mangingisda (KM) failed to stage a protest in the Mactan Channel, after rubber boats and motorized bancas from the Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Navy and Maritime Police stopped them yesterday morning.
Daniel Cañada, campaign officer of KM, an affiliate of the group Laban ng Masa (LM), said they prepared 67 bancas for the fluvial protest that would have started from Tangke, Talisay City.
Because of the presence of the law enforcers, only 27 bancas managed to leave the shores of Tangke, but were intercepted some 300 meters away, prompting the protesters to abort the event.
Cañada said there are about 40 members of KM who arrived in Cebu from Manila to participate in the mass actions in line with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit.
He said they will also join today’s Laban ng Masa-led protest headed by former University of the Philippines president Francisco Nemenzo. The group will attempt to march from M.C. Briones Highway in front of the San Miguel Corp. plant in Mandaue City to the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).
About 100 members of the Voyagers for Peace are expected to arrive in Cebu at 6 tonight to join a Bayan Muna-led protest. Bayan Muna-Cebu coordinator Arman Perez, in an interview over radio dyLA said, Voyagers For Peace is composed of officials and members of Bayan Muna and its affiliate organizations.
Bayan Muna will also stage another protest tomorrow. They will march from Fuente Osmeña to the CICC.
Representatives of militant groups and officials of the Cebu City Police Office held a close-door dialogue yesterday morning to set terms on holding street rallies during the summit.
While the protesters promised to keep their activities peaceful, the police pledged maximum tolerance.
Acting CCPO Director Patrocinio Comendador, in an interview with reporters, said he initiated the dialogue.
Comendador stressed that militant groups may stage rallies downtown but not near the Malacañang sa Sugbo nor the Fuente Osmeña circle.
Also yesterday, a photographer of international news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) almost found himself behind bars for taking pictures near a vital installation in Lapu-Lapu City.
City Police Chief Louie Oppus said they had no intention of arresting Romy Gacad, who was spotted photographing street signs near the airport runway in Barangay Ibo.
They only wanted to know who he was, Oppus said.
But the AFP’s chief photographer said the police could have handled the situation better.
“Sabihin mo sa kanila ayusin naman nila yung paraan ng getting-to-know approach nila (They should learn to approach people better),” suggested Gacad, adding that the policemen were holding their rifles while they interrogated him in a street intersection.
He said he was very alarmed when the policemen told him and his driver that they were under arrest.
Oppus said they have briefly held persons who took pictures of vital installations before. Normally, they jot down the person’s name, address and what his intentions are. But then they would release him, he assured.
He assured Gacad and all visitors involved in the summit that the police are not out to harass them.
The standoff was settled when Bobby Capco, of the national organizing committee, called up the police and confirmed that Gacad was indeed accredited to cover the Asean summit.
Gacad said that the officer told him: “Pasensiya ka na, trabaho lang namin ito (Nothing personal. We were just doing our job).”
The ordeal made the photographer miss an assignment yesterday afternoon, but he doesn’t plan on filing a complaint against the authorities. (JST/With OCP)
