Militant leaders apply for permits to hold rallies

They will toe the line for their own reasons.

Instead of the usual "lightning rallies" that test the "calibrated preempted response" of the government, some militant leaders have decided to observe due process and even applied for a rally permit at the Manila City Hall yesterday morning.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary general Renato Reyes and Fr. Joe Dizon of the Gloria Step Down! Movement, went to the office of Manila Mayor Lito Atienza at 10:30 yesterday morning and filed a one-page letter in which they requested permission from the city government to hold a rally at the Don Chino Roces Bridge (formerly Mendiola Bridge) on Oct. 6, Thursday next week.

Dubbed the "March-rally for freedom and democracy," the protest will be held from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and the protesters will assemble at the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) along España Boulevard and march toward Mendiola.

According to the letter, the protest leaders are expecting some 2,000 people to join the street demonstration, which they assured would be peaceful and organized.

In a statement, Reyes said that while they find the "no permit no rally" policy "ridiculous" and "discriminatory," they are willing to abide by due process to prove the selective application of the policy.

"We challenge them to prove their claim that they respect the people’s right to freedom of speech and assembly," he added.

Reyes said they set the Oct. 6 rally date for no significant reason besides testing to see if the local government of Manila will allow them to hold a rally on the Don Chino Roces bridge if they have a permit — especially since they filed their application at least a week in advance. Manila City Hall no longer has any excuse to deny their request, Reyes added.

If the protesters are issued a rally permit, neither Atienza nor the Manila Police District (MPD) can use the excuse that their rally would cause heavy traffic.

"It is too small a rally to create traffic jams, we are only about 2,000," Reyes said. "It is not threatening, so they have no reason to deny us the permit. They can only deny it if there was clear and present danger or if it would lead to public chaos. They cannot even use the excuse that they have an intelligence report to deny us a permit."

He reminded Atienza that the local government only has "two days to act on their permit (request). Otherwise, if they do not make a decision, it would be deemed approved."

Since Atienza has been out of the country since last week, their letter was redirected to the Secretary to the Mayor, lawyer Emmanuel Sison.

Reyes contended that, in Atienza’s absence, Vice Mayor Danilo Lacuna, who is aligned with the opposition political group PDP-Laban, is the acting local government chief. The militant group is hoping that Lacuna will give them a go-signal.

The Bayan official said that they have only one venue in mind for the protest march: "It’s Mendiola or nothing."

Mendiola has always been the rally site of militants since the time of former President Ferdinand Marcos, perhaps because of its proximity to both the University Belt and Malacañang.

Mendiola was renamed after the late journalist Don Chino Roces, who marched in the First Quarter Storm protests and later during the protests against martial law.

They said that other freedom parks, such as Luneta Park, are not acceptable to them because rallies there have only minor impact: "It is time that we reclaim Mendiola."

‘Aquino and Roces won’t be spared’

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has warned that neither former President Corazon Aquino nor award-winning actress Susan Roces will be spared if they are among the protesters dispersed by riot police in line with the "no permit, no rally" policy.

PNP chief Director General Arturo Lomibao reminded Aquino and Roces, the widow of presidential candidate and movie icon Fernando Poe Jr., that "no one is above the law. Not even the president, not even the chief of the PNP. Everybody should be treated equally."

Aquino and Roces led protest rallies in the past calling for the ouster of President Arroyo amid controversies facing her administration.

"We are here to uphold the law, if nobody else will uphold the law," Lomibao said.

But the PNP chief explained that the calibrated preemptive response of the PNP riot squads is designed to protect the right of the majority.

"Calibrated preemptive response is a policy to protect the silent majority. It is really more (about) numbers than the so-called minority," Lomibao said. "Because we are a democratic society and the rule of the majority is always upheld and we cannot allow the so-called tyranny of the minority to rule over the big majority."

He noted that calibrated preemptive response is being implemented because maximum tolerance has been abused, affecting the greater majority — particularly due to obstruction of the flow of traffic.

"Normal business is impeded, motorists are caught in traffic jams, among other complaints," Lomibao said. "We will apply the rule of law, the law has to be implemented. If we are not going to implement the law, who is going to implement it?"

The PNP chief also asked rally organizers to police their own ranks as lawmen cannot protect them from infiltrators all the time: "The citizens should also participate in obeying the rule of law." — With Cecille Suerte Felipe