Police officers outnumber protesters at the Dela Salle University-Manila who were calling on the Duterte administration to junk the anti-terror bill on Independence Day, June 12, 2020. (Contributed photo)
MANILA, Philippines — Forty police officers in fatigue uniforms deployed outside the De La Salle University-Manila outnumbered protesters at the campus during an anti-terror bill protest held on the celebration of the 122nd Independence Day.
Erin Tañada, Liberal Party vice president for external affairs, shared photos of the protest in a tweet, saying the police officers appeared at the gate of the university when the activity started.
“Happy #122IndependenceDay here at DLSU Taft. When the program started, there were 40 PNP in fatigues that appeared at the gates. Thank you DLSU for fighting for what is right,” he said in the caption.
Happy #122IndependeceDay Here at DLSU Taft…when the program started there were 40 PNP in fatigues that appeared at the gates. Thank you DLSU for fighting for what is right. #LawyersALLRISE #JunkTerrorBill #Mananita #BawiinAngKalayaan #IpaglabanAngKalayaan #VetoTerrorBill pic.twitter.com/gCQOk3yy3U
— Erin Tañada (@erintanada) June 12, 2020
Contributed photos showed that there were less than 20 protesters who gathered inside the DLSU campus.
On the eve of Independence Day, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said that physical protests would be “temporarily banned” during the pandemic due to public health concerns.
“Violations may give rise to penal sanctions under existing public health laws, not under criminal laws. As (Interior) Sec. (Eduardo) Año said, there are safer ways to express one’s protest during this period of public health emergency,” he said on Thursday.
However, the National Union of People’s Lawyers explained that the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act and the law on mandatory reporting of notifiable diseases do not have provisions allowing arrests due to alleged violations of quarantine rules or prohibition on mass gatherings.
On Friday morning before most protests started, Philippine National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac discouraged rallyists from holding protests during the pandemic but vowed that the police will exercise maximum tolerance.
In an afternoon statement, the PNP said it observed a “generally peaceful’ and orderly conduct of mass protests across the country during the celebration of Independence Day.