Iglesia ni Cristo members protest near the DOJ compound. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO/Tetch Torres-Tupas
Two National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) security guards and a prison guard were arrested on Friday morning by Manila police after some Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) protesters outside the Department of Justice (DOJ) claimed that one of the armed men pointed a gun at them.
Superintendent Albert Barot, commander of Manila Police District’s Ermita Station, said police apprehended the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) personnel and his two companions when the prison guard allegedly pointed his firearm at the INC protesters.
The complainants will lodge grave threat charges against the gun-toting BuCor guard identified as Lorencito Rudis and two NBI guards named Luzano Gutierrez and Manolito Sevilla.
“As per the suspect’s statement, hindi naman daw nila tinututok ang baril. Naka-ready lang daw sa lap niya ang baril. Natakot lang daw siya na kuyugin sila,” Barot said in a phone interview with INQUIRER.net.
(As per the suspect’s statement, he did not point his gun at the protesters. He said he just placed the gun on his lap. He was just scared that he might get mobbed.)
READ: De Lima flees angry Iglesia members | INC protesters vs De Lima swell to more than 2,000
In a report by Radyo Inquirer 990 AM, the NBI guard and the Bureau of Corrections personnel on board a Mitsubishi sedan tried to pass through Padre Faura, which was filled with INC members protesting against Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s alleged interference in the INC’s internal affairs.
Upon seeing that the three men had guns, the protesters swarmed their vehicle. The report said the INC members claim that Rudis, Gutierrez and Sevilla then got off the car and pointed a gun at the protesters.
Barot said the Manila traffic apprehended the three security personnel for reckless driving.
From Ermita police station, he said the suspects will be brought to the General Assignment Section at the Manila Police District headquarters along United Nations Avenue.
As of latest, Barot estimated a crowd of 3,000 massed up in front of the DOJ office. Julliane Love De Jesus/IDL