Groups condemn embassy rally dispersal in protest at PNP Caraga HQ

From InterAksyon (Oct 22): Groups condemn embassy rally dispersal in protest at PNP Caraga HQ



Protesters denouncing the violent dispersal of a mostly IP rally at the US Embassy last Oct. 19 gather in front of the Police Regional Office-13 in Caraga. ERWIN MASCARINAS, INTERAKSYON.COM

Hundreds of participants at the culmination of Peasant Month here staged a brief protest outside Police Regional Office 13 (PRO13) headquarters to condemn the violent dispersal of mostly indigenous ralliers outside the US Embassy last Oct. 19.

“The national minorities composed of our Lumad and Moro brothers and sisters trooped to the US Embassy" to protest against the "neoliberal policy that attacks their land, that exploits their land for large-scale mining and destructive plantations," said Godfrey Dunque, spokesperson of Kabataan Caraga.

Mindanaoan minorities traveled to Manila for engagements for the Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya. "This action exercises their right to expression and assembly and enshrined by the Philippine Constitution as affirmed by no less than the president himself,” Dunque said.


He noted a 61 year-old Lumad-Mamanwa woman and a member of Kasalo Caraga, Baling Katubigan, was seriously wounded in the dispersal. More than 50 other national minorities and supporters were injured; 29 were arrested.

They sustained injuries both from the beatings by police, and the act of a policeman who drove a patrol vehicle repeatedly through a pahalanx of ralliers.

“We denounce in the strongest terms possible Manila Police District Senior Supt. Marcelino Pedrozo as the person who gave the orders that led to the heartless attack against our national minorities,” said Dunque.

Alvin Ygot, spokesperson of the College Editors' Guild of the Philippines in Caraga, said that “while we welcome the relief of 60 policemen to pave the way for a thorough investigation, we fear that the PNP chief and the President are fed with twisted information in defense of their men. The protest of national minorities is legitimate exercise of their democratic rights and should be protected by the agents of the State,”

Ygot said the PNP leadership is expected to  defend their men, but that the footage and injured protesters attest to the violent police action. "We are glad that the president himself would initiate his own probe but it should not only end with relieving abusive cops. The PNP and Embassy officials who triggered the attack should be held accountable. The bloody dispersal of our lumad and Moro fellows is also an attack against our civil liberties and cultural heritage." He said they will "watch this case until justice is served.”

Chief Superintendent Rolando Felix, director of Police Regional Office 13 (PRO13), said the situation in Caraga region is far removed from the protest rally in Metro Manila.

“Our police personnel here in Caraga have remained steadfast in adhering to our police operation procedures in handling rallies." And, should any situation "get out of hand, there is always a procedure that should be followed during dispersals,” said Felix.

Around 2,000 Indigenous People (IP) and Moro representatives from key southern areas converged in Tacloban City, and onward to Samar for the annual people’s caravan from Mindanao to Manila, with a mission to bring a message to President Duterte.

Dubbed the Journey of the National Minorities for Self Determination and Justice, the groups left October 9, 1026 Sunday morning for the Lakbayan that had been held annually since 2012 to bear the message of Mindanaoans to the seat of power.

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY ERWIN MASCARIÑAS, InterAksyon







http://www.interaksyon.com/article/133605/groups-condemn-embassy-rally-dispersal-in-protest-at-pnp-caraga-hq