MANILA, Philippines — Police will observe maximum tolerance in handling rallies, including those set on Sept. 13, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla said yesterday.
“All contingencies have been considered, but the operative phrase for us is people want accountability but not instability, so we will prevent instability. We are on maximum tolerance,” Remulla told reporters in Manila.
He said authorities understand that the public has grievances and that the government would uphold constitutional rights, including the freedom to assemble, as long as protesters secure permits.
“Our directives to the police are to be present, to be patient, to enforce maximum tolerance and to respect the sentiments of the people,” he added.
On reports of a planned rally on Sept. 13, the birthday of President Marcos, Remulla downplayed the date but said the government is taking the matter seriously.
“It’s just any other date. We respond to everything with the same seriousness, but of course, if there is mass action, a mass protest, we have to be sensitive to the grievances of the people. The more you suppress, the worse it gets, so let them protest if they want. We won’t stop them, but we also expect it to be peaceful,” he said.
Remulla dismissed comparisons of the planned rally to the violent protests in Indonesia and Nepal, saying “Filipinos are not like that. Even at our worst, we don’t burn things. All contingencies are considered and we will be prepared, but I don’t think it will come to that.”
Philippine National Police acting chief Lt. Gen. Melencio Nartatez Jr. said the PNP has drawn up security and crowd management plans to maintain peace and order during the protests.
“We already have our security plan for dispersal, crowd management and security. We are continuously monitoring peace and order and safety not only in Metro Manila but nationwide,” Nartatez said.
Yesterday, about 200 members of Tindig Pilipinas, Nagkaisa Labor Coalition and Kalipunan ng Kilusang Masa, among other progressive groups, gathered outside the historic EDSA Shrine to condemn widespread corruption in flood control projects.
The groups called on the government to not only conduct investigations into what they described as a “political epidemic” but also to hold erring officials accountable and the urgent formation of an independent commission, which the President formalized through an executive order later in the day.
“The most guilty should not be the one investigating,” Akbayan party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña said, referring to lawmakers involved in the flood control scandal participating in the probe themselves.
Kiko Aquino Dee, the grandson of democracy stalwarts Cory and Ninoy Aquino, said the commission should expose all irregularities in pursuit of true accountability.
“No one should be spared from this, whoever they are,” said Dee, a co-convenor of Tindig Pilipinas.
The groups demanded that representatives and senators release their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth as Fr. Robert Reyes, known as the running priest and now part of the Clergy for Good Governance, chastised the personalities involved in the flood control scandal.
“Nakakahiya. Nakakagalit. Nakakadiri (Embarrassing. Infuriating. Disgusting),” Reyes said during his homily at mass. “Are we holy or corrupt?”
The church-group Missionary Families of Christ called on those linked to the scandals to repent and “return what they have stolen” from the people as the Catholic Advocates for Responsible Electorates vowed to hold parish-based forums and dialogs to educate voters and help them choose leaders with integrity.
In Malolos, Bulacan, protesters held a rally in front of the Department of Public Works and Highways 1st District Engineering Office in Barangay Tikay yesterday to condemn the anomalous flood control projects in the province.
University of the Philippines-Diliman chancellor Edgardo Carlo Vistan II endorsed the “Black Friday” protest and walkout of students today amid the controversy on substandard and ghost flood control projects.
In a letter to Vistan, the University Student Council said a university-wide walkout would be held as part of the Black Friday protest to express the students’ condemnation of the rampant corruption being exposed and to demand accountability from the Marcos administration.
“Our university faces a P21-billion budget deficit that undermines its mandate as the university of the people. These budget gaps between our request and the state’s proposal cripple our capacity to provide quality education, research and public service,” said UP Diliman student council chairperson Joaquin Buenaflor in his letter.
Groups will continue their protests against authoritarianism and plunder on Sept. 21, coinciding with the 53rd anniversary of the martial law declaration.
Meanwhile, convenors of Hakbang ng Maisug, a movement formed by allies of former president Rodrigo Duterte, are calling on “patriotic Filipinos of all stripes” to gather at EDSA Shrine on Saturday “to put an end to the massive corruption and looting of public funds we are all gravely suffering from the hands of the Marcos administration.”
In an unsigned statement reposted by prominent Duterte allies such as former press secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles, the movement describes fighting corruption in the Philippines as a “noble cause” that unites Filipinos. — EJ Macababbad, Evelyn Macairan, Bella Cariaso, Emmanuel Tupas, Ramon Efren Lazaro