MANILA, Philippines — The head of the Philippine National Police (PNP) appealed to protesters to find other ways to air their grievances against the government to prevent mass gathering during the coronavirus disease pandemic.
“That’s why meron tayong pandemiya kung pwede sana yung right to express your own opinion can be done in some other ways pero huwag sanang mass gathering kasi merong inoobserbahang demand ngayon which is pandemic,” PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa said on Tuesday in a Laging Handa press briefing when asked about police protocols for rallies during the coronavirus lockdown.
(We have this pandemic, so if you have this right to express your own opinion, it can be done in some ways but not through mass gathering because we are addressing a crisis, which is pandemic.)
Gamboa’s statement came after police officers arrested progressive groups in Cebu for staging a protest against the passage of the controversial Anti-Terror Bill. Six jeepney drivers, who held a rally in Caloocan to call for the return of jeepneys on the roads, were also arrested.
The PNP chief said one of their basis for jailing the protesters was their disobedience to police officers.
“Ang isang basehan dito kung bakit sila (protesters) kailangang hulihin ng PNP, palaging nakikiusap na mag-disperse sila and ‘yun na nga inuudyok nila yung pulis na parang they really tried the tolerance of police,” Gamboa said.
(One of our basis why the PNP arrested protesters is because law enforcers are always asking them to disperse and some of them are provoking police officers and they really tried the tolerance of the police.)
“And to some extent kung sobra na ginagawa nila which is tantamount to disobedience, we caused the arrest of these people,” he added.
(And to some extent if they went too far, which is tantamount to disobedience, we caused the arrest of these people.)