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Saturday, October 22, 2005
Protestors fail to take Mendiola; Arroyo honors injured cops
MANILA -- Protesting militant and farmer groups from Luzon provinces peacefully dispersed Friday their protest to demand the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo after anti-riot police blocked them from getting to Mendiola, which is close to the presidential palace.
The 17,000-strong police force in Manila have gone on full alert to deal with almost-daily protests, some of which have turned violent after authorities trained water cannons on anti-Arroyo activists last week.
The protestors were composed of farmers and peasants from provinces in Luzon who arrived in Manila to denounce Arroyo's "anti-people policies that have caused more poverty to the people." They asked for genuine land reform and an end to harassment and killings of their members.
They accused Arroyo of vote rigging, corruption, and repression but the President on Thursday brushed aside the charges, saying, "A state that cowers in fear before the mob cannot stand for long."
The farmers said they will return to Manila soon to show "their determination and militancy in calling for Arroyo's immediate removal."
Arroyo has angered protesters by imposing a strict "no permit, no rally" policy, saying the noisy demonstrations that snarl traffic in crowded commercial districts were becoming a nuisance.
Friday's rally was the largest in several weeks, gathering up to 10,000 mostly farmers and fishermen who traveled from provinces north and south of Manila.
They were stopped near the historic Mendiola bridge, which has become a shrine for protesters, several hundred meters from the presidential palace gates.
A brief scuffle erupted when a group of protesters tried to push their way forward, only to be repulsed by a phalanx of riot police.
Six officers were injured after being hit by flying objects, police spokesman Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil said. Rally organizers said six were also hurt on their side.
The police officers who were wounded were Police Officers 3 Marian Evangelista, Martheres Solidarius, Ma. Gracia Balderas and Aldine Moreno; Police Officer 2 Gonzaga Joger; and a certain Police Officer 1 Baysa of the PNP-Special Action Force. They were brought to the Ospital ng Maynila in Sampaloc, Manila.
Some protestors were also injured in the skirmish that took place at the corner of Nicanor Reyes Street (formerly Morayta) and Claro M. Recto Avenue but their identities were unavailable.
Bataoil said their men arrested some rallyists who were involved in the scuffle. He said they will charge those they captured with illegal assembly since the protestors were not allowed to hold a rally in the area.
A report said prior to the clash, the protestors asked the policemen to allow them to get to Chino Roces (formerly Mendiola) Bridge and stay there for three hours but the police said the area is a no-rally zone. An argument broke out and the rallyists forced their way to the area, which prompted the police to push them away.
Some protestors allegedly threw stones and other objects at the policemen.
Superintendent Danilo Abarsoza, the police official in-charge for maintaining peace and order at the historic bridge, said the situation in the area had however stabilized immediately when he and rally leaders negotiated with each other.
Abarsoza said they agreed that the protestors would stay at the Morayta area and would no longer attempt to go to the Chino Roces Bridge. At 4 p.m. Friday, the protestors dispersed voluntarily.
Infiltrator
The protesters, weary of provocateurs, beat up two men who allegedly infiltrated their ranks, including one military intelligence agent who was seen with a gun.
Captain Ramon Zagala, spokesman for the National Capital Region Command, said the agent broke a rule against bringing a weapon to a rally, but denounced the beating, saying he was just monitoring the movement of the protesters.
Zagala said Sergeant Ferdinand Alcantara of the NCRC did not break into the ranks of the protestors to spy on the rally but to monitor the activity as part of his mission. He also said Alcantara was just mistaken for an "infiltrator".
Alcantara sustained cuts and bruises after several protesters ganged up on him. He is being held at the Central Police District Office (CPDO) in Sikatuna Village, Quezon City pending investigation.
Zagala protested the mauling of Alcantara saying the suspicion that the agent was an "infiltrator" did not merit such act by the rallyists. He said the protestors should not have beaten up Alcantara or anybody without knowing first the person.
Furthermore, he said Alcantara stayed afar from the rally site and did not even disrupt the assembly.
When asked why Alcantara was in civilian clothes and had a gun on him if his job was only to monitor the rally, Zagala said they will look into why Alcantara brought a gun with him.
Another soldier, Lieutenant Eliso Madrid of the Philippine Army (PA), was allegedly with Alcantara during the incident.
But Madrid, during police investigation, said he was only in the area to wait for a ride on his way home to Tarlac province. He is also in the custody of the CPDO.
A report said rally marshals noticed Alcantara observing and taking pictures of the assembly while the protestors were staging a demonstration in the area. When accosted, a gun was found inside the bag of Alcantara until a heated argument ensued between him and the rallyists.
The soldier managed to flee but the protestors caught up with him and mauled him even if policemen had already intervened.
Presidential visit
After the peaceful dispersal of the protest without further incident, the President later visited the officers deployed near the rally site where she was shown police video of the scuffle before pinning medals on the six officers who were injured.
Arroyo, who went to the corner of C.M. Recto and Legarda Avenues early Friday night after coming from a visit in Pampanga, congratulated the policemen assigned to maintain peace and order in the rally and said the courage displayed by the six policemen in "enforcing the rule of law" should be recognized.
The President issued the calibrated pre-emptive response (CPR) being implemented by the police during street protests. She asked the police to disperse outright any illegal public assembly, and arrest and charge those participants.
Authoritarian rule
Meanwhile, the Makati Business Club, one of the country's most influential business groups said Friday that recent government policies restricting protests and congressional inquiries show Arroyo may be heading toward authoritarian rule.
The Makati Business Club, which has joined calls for Arroyo's resignation over allegations she rigged last year's election, issued the statement as police stopped thousands of left-wing protesters from marching near the presidential palace.
The group expressed concern that the Arroyo government had embarked on policies to "curtail basic freedoms, reduce transparency and accountability" and contemplate the management of some privately owned utilities and businesses.
"Collectively, they illustrate a pattern of repression, which has detrimental effects on basic freedoms and eventually on an open economy," it said.
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye shrugged off the statement. "Some elements of the Makati Business Club are beginning to sound like a broken record," he said. "They easily forget that if there is one person who would be most interested in strengthening our economy, it is the president."
Since her congressional allies defeated an opposition bid to impeach her in late August, Arroyo has hit back at opponents, ordering police to strictly implement a "no permit, no rally" policy that has led to several violent dispersals of protesters near the presidential palace in recent weeks.
She has also barred officials from testifying in Congress without her consent, claiming opposition lawmakers were using the hearings as another platform to attack her administration.
The business club, which includes many of the country's top businesspeople, said protests were an "expression of frustration" at the government's inability to reduce poverty and corruption. They warned that Filipinos will fight for their rights to peaceful assembly and free speech "regardless of how repressive the regime may be," as shown during resistance to the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
It said Arroyo's ban on officials testifying without her permission "reduces transparency and accountability." It also said that a "state of emergency" was being considered by the government, based on statements by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales on possible state action in case rising oil prices threaten the economy.
Bunye has said Gonzales conducted a "mere academic" study on his own regarding options that are allowed by the constitution in case of an economic crisis. (Sunnex)
(October 22, 2005 issue)
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