ANGELES CITY , Philippines – President Arroyo’s first visit to Pampanga after she filed her certificate of candidacy to represent the second district was met by protesting local journalists demanding an end to “a culture of impunity” that favors suspects in the killing of journalists in the country.
Some 30 local journalists gathered at 8:30 a.m. yesterday at the Sto. Rosario Parish, a few meters away from the Holy Angel University (HAU) where the President was attending a blessing for a new chapel.
Pampanga Auxiliary Bishop Virgilio Pablo David, an outspoken critic of Mrs. Arroyo’s candidacy, officiated the Mass offered for the victims of the Maguindanao massacre, especially for the slain media persons, at the Sto. Rosario Parish.
After the Mass, the group marched to the HAU. A big group of police officers blocked the HAU entrance with patrol cars and a fire truck.
Ashley Manabat, president of the Pampanga chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), said the local police displayed “needless overreaction” to the march.
“We told them we were not out to create trouble and that we just wanted to air our grievances, but they started to push us back. They wanted us out of the area and told us to retreat some 100 meters back,” Manabat said.
She said the rally could have been “uneventful had not the police overreacted to cause tension.”
The group, however, did not get to see the President because her convoy took another route.
“We never caught a glimpse of the President, but at least, we stood our ground. We did not retreat and we were able to light one candle at the site to highlight our sentiments,” Manabat said.
After the chapel blessing, Mrs. Arroyo visited the second district towns of Bacoor and Guagua, her 51st visit this year.
The Philippine Information Agency (PIA) said the President signed into law House Bill 6319 converting the Don Honorio Ventura College of Arts and Trades into a technological state university.
The vocational school, the oldest in Asia, was named after the Kapampangan educator who gave scholarships to Mrs. Arroyo’s father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal.
In Guagua, the President inaugurated the newly widened section of the Olongapo-Gapan road, and an emergency dredging project in Barangay San Matias.