Cops ‘hold’ SONA rallyists  in Cavite, Laguna

SAN PEDRO CITY — Activists headed to Southern Tagalog’s version of the “SONAgkaisa,” a mass protest mounted for President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address Monday at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), were stopped and held by policemen in Cavite and Laguna provinces.

A group of about 50 activists, onboard four jeepneys, was stopped at the South Luzon Expressway in Carmona, Cavite, said Joy Caldo from the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines-Cavite State University.

The group, which on Monday morning held a rally in Dasmariñas City, Cavite, was traveling to join the 2 p.m. regional protest at UPLB.

“We’re stopped by the police in Carmona. They took the license of the drivers and were asking for everyone’s names. We asked the police if we could just go back to Cavite but they insisted we stay here,” Caldo said in a phone interview.

In Laguna, seven students also headed to UPLB were “held” by the police as they were on the boundary of Calamba City and Los Baños town, said Kyle Angelo Salgado, spokesperson of human rights group, Karapatan-Southern Tagalog.

He said the students were onboard a rented jeep when flagged down by the police. The students were brought to the Los Baños police station.

Salgado said about 300 members of various militant organizations have begun to mass up at UPLB, where they were allowed to hold the protest.

LZB