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Saturday, December 16, 2006
Senators warn government v. arrests during rally
MANILA -- Police and military officials said they have raised the alert for Sunday's protest rally against Charter change, as a senator warned them against arresting organizers or politicians who would show up at the event.
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Brigadier General Ben Mohammad Dolorfino, chief of the National Capital Region Command (NCRcom) -- the military's anti-coup unit in Metro Manila, said at least seven companies of soldiers would be deployed on the streets in case the police need assistance in ensuring peace and order.
Dolorfino said the seven companies of soldiers, who are trained in civil disturbance management, would be on the stand by at Camp Aguinaldo where the command maintains headquarters. A company is composed of 120 soldiers.
The military declared a red alert status in the metropolis to prepare for any emergency during the prayer rally.
The command was re-established shortly after more than 300 junior officers and soldiers, called the Magdalo Group, waged the short-lived Oakwood mutiny in July 2003. Formerly known as the NCR Defense Command, the command quelled several coups in the 1980s but was disbanded in the early 1990s.
The police, the primary agency tasked to ensure peace and order during the rally, also went on highest alert status early this week. Officials announced that thousands of policemen would be tapped to secure the rally site.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief Hermogenes Esperon had revealed on Wednesday plans by the New People's Army (NPA) and the radical Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM) to sabotage the activity. He warned that the two groups might bomb the rally and blame it on government.
Metro Manila Police Director Reynaldo Varilla said on Thursday, however, that they have not monitored any plans by any groups to sow havoc during the event. Nevertheless, he said policemen would be deployed at the rally site to ensure peace.
Rally organizers, led by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said they would push through with the planned demonstrations even if government had already backtracked on plans to change the Charter through a constituent assembly.
CBCP president and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said they are placing "in the hands of God" the turnout of Sunday's prayer rally. He hoped that through the prayer rally, people backing Charter change would be enlightened and abandon their plans totally.
He said the country is confronted with many problems that need to be resolved, and the Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) and Constitutional Convention (Con-con) being pushed in Congress are not answers to the crises.
Lagdameo said: "The Con-con can be placed in the list of priorities. However, haste must be avoided because haste makes waste."
With government leaders changing its course, Lagdameo said the prayer rally would now be called as "prayer rallies of thanksgiving" for the leaders "who heard the voice of the people."
He said the church could no longer take the things happening in the country sitting down unlike during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's impeachment complaints.
Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales will officiate a mass at 4 p.m. Sunday, which would be followed by the declaration of unity and candle light ceremony.
The CBCP and other rally organizers invited President Arroyo and House Speaker Jose de Venecia to attend the gathering. The President and de Venecia had earlier claimed there was no more need for the rally because plans to change the Constitution had been abandoned.
Senate President Manuel Villar, who warned police from arresting anyone who would attend the rally, said there was nothing wrong with the decision to push through with the activity.
"This is legal and proper venue for the people to express their sentiments on issues that affect them," he said.
Villar said he will not attend the rally so as not to add political color to the activity.
Senator Franklin Drilon, meanwhile, warned the police and military not to fan the flames of public outrage by "trying to intimidate the people and suppress their rights to free expression and assembly."
He said the role of the police was to maintain peace and order and not to interfere in the exercise of the people's right to free speech and expression.
Senator Ralph Recto said Sunday's rally "can both be an opportunity to say a prayer of thanks for stopping a manmade disaster that was Con-Ass and for seeking help for victims of a natural calamity." (VR/MSN/CPB/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (December 16, 2006 issue)
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