BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Posted 6:30 p.m. June 22, 2006 

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

© 2006 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Publications

Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.