BY ALEXANDER MARTIN
REMOLLINO
Posted 6:30 p.m. June 22, 2006
|
Lawyers -- among them
IBP president Jose Anselmo Cadiz and former Vice President Teofisto
Guingona, Jr. -- and members of militant groups rally near Mendiola
for civil liberties, June 22. PHOTO BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO |
About 200 lawyers
belonging to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), Counsels for
the Defense of Liberties (Codal), Concerned Lawyers for Civil Liberties,
Libertas, and the Young Lawyers League, as well as law students from
different colleges and universities, resisted attempts by Western Police
District (WPD) elements to disperse a rally they held this afternoon
near the foot of the Chino Roces Bridge (also known as the Mendiola
Bridge), a few steps away from the presidential palace.
The lawyers and law
students, who were joined in the activity by more than a hundred members
of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) and
Akbayan, had days before applied for a rally permit at the Manila City
Hall.
They were allowed
to hold a rally but only at the Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, which is a
freedom park. The IBP appealed the Manila city government’s decision and
as of this afternoon, the Supreme Court had yet to decide on the
petition filed by the lawyers’ group.
The rally, IBP
president Jose Anselmo Cadiz told reporters, was to be in celebration of
the Supreme Court decisions on Proclamation No. 1017, Executive Order
No. 464, and the calibrated preemptive response policy (CPR).
“Rallies can only
be prohibited in particular instances and places where there is clear
and present danger,” Cadiz said when asked whether he believed the
activity being planned was legal.
“We are with
lawyers and law students,” Cadiz added, “and I don’t think we pose a
clear and present danger.”
Asked whether or
not the WPD team planned to disperse the ralliers, Supt. Danilo Abarsoza
said that “there would be no use of excessive force” against them. “We
would only use the necessary force,” he said.
At mid-afternoon
the lawyers and law students, together with the Bayan and Akbayan
members, marched toward the foot of the Chino Roces Bridge, and were
stopped a few steps away from their intended rally site.
While negotiating
with the police – who were led by Supt. Arturo Paglinawan, commanding
officer of the WPD General Assignment Division, rally organizers learned
that the truck carrying their sound system had also been stopped by WPD
elements a few blocks away. Paglinawan and the rally organizers agreed
that the ralliers would be allowed to hold their program at the corner
of C.M. Recto Avenue and Legarda Street and the truck carrying the sound
system would be allowed in the vicinity.
The truck carrying
the sound system, however, was stopped by a police jeep a few meters
away from the corner of C.M. Recto and Legarda.
As the ralliers
tried to negotiate again with the police, the dispersal unit started
pushing them with shields. But the ralliers stood their ground, fought
back and after a few minutes finally decided to hold their program even
without a sound system.
“The Filipino
people fought hard for Mendiola,” said former Vice President Teofisto
Guingona, Jr. Because of this, he said, they deserved to be allowed to
air their views and sentiments there.
“We must tell
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo: Mendiola does not belong to you!”
said Codal spokesperson Neri Javier Colmenares. Bulatlat
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