Comelec exec admits voters’ list in some ARMM provinces not cleansed
It is interesting to see how easy allies of the governor can freely rally at the Capitol in pursuit of their partisan politics, when her critics were routinely barred from raising social concerns beyond hurriedly-installed blockade of dump trucks and steel bars outside Capitol's perimeter.
In the past days, supporters of Cebu Fourth District congressional candidate Benhur Salimbangon, a staunch ally of the governor, held protest actions right inside the halls and just outside the walls of Capitol with nary a fuss from the police, Capitol Security Unit, and Spectrum Security Agency. If this has been a rally by BAYAN or other nationalist groups, the treatment would be the exact opposite. Peaceful protest actions by these groups have always been met by a phalanx of security men and loud speakers way outside Capitol grounds.
Of course, Capitol-favored rallyists have all the rights to air out grievance publicly like everyone else. And like everyone else, the people's right to freedom of expression and to peaceably assemble should be respected and protected at all times by the high and mighty more so if these are addressed to them.
We hope Capitol authorities would be consistent in dealing with protests regardless of political beliefs and affiliations of the protesters. We hope they would junk its discriminatory security policies and respect the people's rights to be heard. We hope this time they would put flesh to the dictum engraved at the Capitol's façade: "The authority of the government emanates from the people."
Dennis Abarrientos
Secretary-General
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