Presidential candidates Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Grace Poe-Llamanzares chat during a break in the Presidential Debates 2016 held in Capitol University in Cagayan de Oro City.
INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON
DAVAO CITY – For the camp of presidential aspirant and city mayor Rodrigo Duterte, political rival Grace Poe and her running mate Chiz Escudero have nothing to blame but their organizers for failing to secure a rally permit here.
Peter Laviña said the allegation that the senators’ camp was barred from conducting a rally in Davao City was “simply baseless if not ridiculous.”
“Their organizers are lazy. They did not do their job. That’s not our fault or the city government of Davao’s fault,” Laviña said in a statement.
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He said groups conducting rallies in Davao City’s public parks are required to pay only P150 for use of electricity. They are also required to coordinate with the Traffic Management Center and the Central 911 for standby emergency unit. The processing of permits is usually completed within a day.
“We learned that there was an application, but this application was not pursued. Hindi na bumalik ang nag-file. Tamad, napagod siguro o naghahanap ng rason. Kaninong kasalanan yan?” Laviña pointed out.
(We learned that there was an application, but this application was not pursued. The one who filed the application did not come back for it. Lazy, perhaps they got tired and looked for reasons [not to return]. Whose fault was that?)
He said it is not the nature and character of Duterte–or of Davao City for that matter–to curtail the freedom of groups and people to use public spaces.
“Davao City is known for its respect and tolerance to groups and people who want to exercise their freedom and use public spaces to protest and express grievances or political views or religious beliefs peacefully,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that the senator’s camp is twisting the facts, making it appear like a permit was not granted because of politics,” Laviña added. CDG
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