CHR: Arrests during pandemic a ‘cause for concern’

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Friday said numerous arrests during the time of the pandemic, coupled with rising cases of the coronavirus disease infection among the police force, was a “cause for concern.”

CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia described the recent arrests made at a Makati bar and during a pride protest in Mendiola, Manila, as specifically concerning. De Guia noted that the police appeared to have violated the government’s own health and safety guidelines, such as physical distancing.

Videos taken during the violent dispersal and arrest of pride protesters, showed that the police did not exercise physical distancing, and piled protesters into cramped vehicles. —Patricia Denise M. Chiu