Makabayan bloc asks House to probe ‘tambay’ crackdown

MANILA, Philippines — The Makabayan bloc called on the House Committee on Human Rights to investigate the government’s crackdown on “tambays” or street loiterers following President Rodrigo Duterte’s verbal order to arrest them, an order he has denied giving.

In filing House resolution 1969 Monday, the Makabayan bloc condemned Duterte’s order, saying it “opens a floodgate of abuses especially in the midst of unresolved cases of police brutality and extrajudicial killings in poor communities.”

“It provides the PNP a wide latitude in carrying out illegal arrests, illegal search and seizures and in violating people’s right to mobility,” the resolution said.

On June 13, Duterte said police should confront loiterers and vagrants, saying they are “potential trouble for the public.” 

This led to the arrest of more than 7,000 in an intensified campaign to enforce ordinances against loitering. Loitering is no longer a crime under the Revised Penal Code.

The president later disavowed the campaign, saying Friday that he never ordered the arrest of tambays.

The Makabayan resolution cited Article III, Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution, which states that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of laws.

The resolution also cited data from the National Capital Region Police Office and various news reports that 7,291 persons had been arrested as of June 20 because of “Oplan Tambay.”

Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV filed a similar resolution on Monday, urging the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs to look into the government's crackdown on loiterers and the death of Genesis “Tisoy” Argoncillo in police custody.

READ: Reso seeks Senate inquiry into ‘tambay’ roundup, Argoncillo's death

Oplan Tambay cases

The Makabayan bloc also mentioned the death of the 22-year-old Argoncillo after allegedly being mauled by fellow detainees. Police had initially said his injuries were self-inflicted and that he died because of congestion in the detention cell he was being kept in.

Argoncille was arrested in front of his home in Barangay Sauyom, Novaliches for not wearing a shirt.

Four days later, Argoncillo’s body was found bearing multiple blunt trauma, which the victim allegedly received from a beating.

The resolution also mentioned Matt Dimaranan’s firsthand experience of Oplan Tambay, which the victim posted on social media, where he explained that he and his friends were mistaken for tambays and were arrested in front of his friend’s house.

Dimaranan and his friends reportedly asked the police why they were being detained and was answered by being showed a video clip of Duterte’s speech ordering police to be strict against tambays. The police then allegedly told them: “Basta sabi ng pangulo, batas agad ‘yun (If the president says it, it is already a law).” — Philstar.com intern Ali Ian Marcelino Biong