You’ll cause traffic, QC gov’t tells SONA ralliers

The Quezon City government has denied the request of militant groups that they be allowed to hold street protests near the House of Representatives as President Benigno Aquino III delivers his State of the Nation Address (Sona) next week.

In separate letters to Bayan or Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, its counsel the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, and the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), a city official said the staging of rallies in the area would lead to heavy traffic.

“Based on the assessment and recommendation of the Quezon City Police District, your request cannot be given favorable recommendation,” said Elmo San Diego, head of the department of public order and safety.

Bayan, through NUPL, earlier applied for a permit to hold a rally from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on July 22, the day the President will deliver his Sona before Congress.

The militant group had asked Mayor Herbert Bautista to allow them to gather on Batasan Road, near the House of Representatives.

FDC, on the other hand, had requested for permission to stage a protest in front of Ever Gotesco mall on Commonwealth Avenue from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“The said area is not the proper venue of the activity as it may cause a serious traffic problem,” San Diego said in his letters to the groups dated July 16.

In the case of FDC’s request, the city government also cited “sanitation” concerns as one of its reasons for turning down the group’s request.

In an interview on Wednesday, San Diego explained that Batasan Road and Commonwealth Avenue had been declared “no rally zones.”

He suggested that the protesters gather instead on the football field in the Quezon City Hall compound.

“It’s a designated freedom park so there’s no need to apply for a rally permit,” San Diego told the Inquirer.

Sought for comment, NUPL national secretary general Edre Olalia said he was “dismayed and frustrated” over the denial of their request.

“It is silly for the police to invoke traffic when it is manifestly evident every single year that it is the police blockade that causes it,” Olalia told the Inquirer, adding that traffic jams could “never override the right of people to assemble.”

He said they would question the denial of their petition in court today. Julie M. Aurelio