‘Cebu 8’ seeks dismissal of charges

CEBU CITY—The eight persons arrested at an antiterrorism bill rally at the University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu campus on June 5 have asked the court to dismiss the charges against them for lack of legal and factual bases.

In a document filed in court on Thursday, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers Cebu and its collaborating volunteer lawyers who represented the accused said the arrests made by the police were indiscriminate, highly irregular, and violated their constitutional rights to “peaceably assemble and freely express their sentiments.”

Lawyer King Anthony Perez, the spokesperson of the arrested group collectively called as the “Cebu 8,” said no law or ordinance prohibits the conduct of rallies during a health crisis, such as the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

“While current national and local community quarantine guidelines prohibit ‘mass gatherings,’ the same prohibition excludes rallies as it would run contrary to the Constitution—the supreme law of the land. Time and again, the spring cannot rise higher than its source,” he said in a press statement.

The eight accused—UP Cebu students Joahanna Veloso, Bern Cañedo and Nar Athena Mae Porlas; UP alumnus Al Ingking; Kabataan party list volunteer April Dyan Gumanao; Jaime Paglinawan of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Central Visayas; Janry Ubal of Food Not Bombs Cebu; and 19-year-old bystander Clement Corominas—were arrested by policemen for allegedly violating the government’s ban on mass gatherings amid restrictions caused by the COVID-19.

They were charged in court for violating Batas Pambansa No. 880, or the Public Assembly Act of 1985, Republic Act No. 11332, otherwise known as the law on reporting of communicable diseases, and resistance and disobedience to persons in authority.

Counter affidavits

On Thursday, their lawyers filed the judicial counter affidavits of the eight accused to respond to the charges filed against them before Judge Jenelyn Forrosuelo of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities Branch 4 in Cebu City.

Aside from Corominas, Perez said they also found out that Ubal also did not participate in the June 5 protest rally and simply passed by UP Cebu when the dispersal happened.

“The police officers involved violated the constitutional right to due process of all the accused by arresting them without informing them of the specific grounds for their arrest,” Perez said.

During the rally, he said the protesters observed the minimum public health standards such as wearing of prescribed face masks and observance of physical distancing by standing a meter apart from each other.

Perez said there was no need for the protesters to seek permission from the government since the protest action was held within the property or campus grounds of UP Cebu—a state university—where no permit to rally was required.

He said the arresting policemen also breached into the UP grounds without prior consent or coordination with the UP Cebu administration—a violation of the 1989 agreement between the university and the Department of National Defense.

Since the cases filed against them were less serious and treated under a summary procedure, the Cebu 8 were released from prison without posting bail on June 8.

The eight accused, however, spent 72 hours in jail before the court ordered their release.