Manila rally leaders face criminal raps

Authorities are preparing criminal charges against the leaders and organizers of last Friday’s rally in Manila in which scores of people, including six policemen and five rallyists, were injured when rallyists clashed with anti-riot policemen.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Arturo Lomibao said the charges would be filed on top of charges of physical injuries raised by the Manila Police District (MPD) against the leaders and organizers of last Friday’s rally that ended in mayhem.

Lomibao said the PNP lawyers are now finalizing the draft of the charges to be filed against the rally leaders.

President Arroyo, on the other hand, condemned the incident, saying the rallyists showed their clear intention to defy the law and injure the policemen who were just doing their duty.

"I’m condemning those people who hurt them and other police officers who were enforcing maximum tolerance," Mrs. Arroyo said in Filipino.

Hours after the bloody skirmish, the President commended the wounded policemen and conferred upon them the "Medalya ng Sugatang Magiting."

The injured lawmen were identified as Police Officers 3 (PO3) Marian Evangelista, Martheres Solidarius, Ma. Gracia Baldenas, Aldine Moreno, PO2 Gonzaga Joger and PO1 Allan Baysa.

MPD director Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong said Baysa sustained the most severe injury after being hit in the head after he stooped down to help someone at the height of the tension-filled confrontation with the demonstrators.

Baysa was rushed to a hospital for treatment of his head wound that required six stitches.

Solidarius, for her part, claimed she and other policewomen were being yanked out of the defense line and beaten by the male rallyists.

She claimed one of the rallyists even pulled off her helmet and used it to hit her over the head.

According to PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, it will now be the turn of the police to file charges against the rally leaders before the Commission on Human Rights.

"Aside from the criminal case, we are also filing cases before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR)," Bataoil said.

He also lamented that some of the male rallyists had no qualms about attacking the policewomen whose only defense was their anti-riot shields.

Bataoil presented before the media yesterday the policewomen who were injured in Friday’s rally, all claiming they were attacked by male protesters.

Baldenas, an investigator of MPD Station 8, claimed she was manning their barricade along C. M. Recto Avenue with fellow women police officers when they encountered a phalanx of women rallyists.

Instead of the female marchers rushing at them, Baldenas claimed a group of male protesters suddenly came from behind the ranks and started attacking them with fists and steel pipes while some tried to yank their shields away from them.

Despite the attack, Baldenas said they managed to maintain their composure and stood their ground.

Baldenas claimed the rallyists even used the pointed end of the wooden poles of their banners and streamers in probing the defensive ranks of the anti-riot policemen.

Bataoil stressed the decision to file criminal charges against the rally organizers and rallyists stemmed from the "brutal force" used in attacking the anti-riot personnel with pointed poles and spears.

"We had our policewomen (on) the front line in Recto last Friday hoping that the protesters would respect them but instead they assaulted the policewomen’s barricade with pointed instruments," Bataoil claimed.

Last Friday’s rally was the largest in several weeks, gathering thousands, mostly farmers and fishermen who had traveled from Southern Tagalog and Northern Luzon provinces.

The protesters were stopped by policemen outside the historic Mendiola Bridge, which has become a shrine of dissent, several hundred meters from Malacañang.

Mrs. Arroyo conceded the successive rallies were making it hard to focus on her work.

But just the same, the President lauded the efforts of the anti-riot policemen in showing patience and accepting the physical and verbal abuse hurled at them by the protesters.

"I am thanking the Lord that we have extraordinary women, just like our policewomen, for showing their patience yesterday and accepting the violence in the street in order to enforce law and order," Mrs. Arroyo said before a gathering of women at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City yesterday. — With Aurea Calica