A police patrol car rammed the protesters and ran over some at an anti-US rally outside the US embassy. SCREENGRAB FROM AP VIDEO
DAVAO CITY—President Duterte said he would “invite for coffee” the police officer who drove the van that plowed through a crowd of protesters on Wednesday outside the US Embassy in Manila, to ask him why he did it.
While maintaining he was not justifying the acts of PO3 Franklin Kho, Mr. Duterte said the officer—who was caught on video running over some protesters and bumping several others—may have been under stress at the time.
“I will try to talk to him peacefully, invite him for coffee. I will also talk to the activists,” Mr. Duterte said. “(The Manila policemen) were surrounded by a group of militants.”
Different dimensions
“Nobody would do that. Maybe he was under stress. They might have ganged up on him,” the President added, stressing he wanted to know what really happened. “I’m trying to look at it from different dimensions.”
Around 60 policemen, including Kho, were relieved of their duties pending investigation into their roles in the dispersal of the protesters, who were mostly from Sandugo, an alliance of Moro and indigenous peoples who were in the capital to air grievances.
Sandugo coconvenor Piya Macliing Malayao, one of those severely injured, said her group was ready to dialogue with Duterte and “clarify the events that transpired during the violent dispersal.”
Initial briefing ‘lacking’
Duterte may not be justifying the police actions, Malayao said, but it was clear that the President had heard only the law enforcers’ side.
“With all due respect, Mr. President, the initial briefing you might have been given on the incident might be lacking,” he added.
“For one, various video footage of the incident show that the police vehicle (had) much space to maneuver. Yet PO3 Kho recklessly drove (forward and backward), toppling many protesters who were still reeling from the effects of tear gas released moments earlier,” Malayao said.
Charges being prepared
Also on Saturday, a lawyer assisting the protesters said administrative and criminal charges would be filed on Wednesday in the Office of the Ombudsman against the policemen involved in the violent dispersal.
Ephraim Cortez, secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, said charges for attempted murder were being prepared against Kho and Senior Supt. Marcelino Pedrozo, the Manila Police District deputy director for operations.
“Our case is very strong but we need to identify the other policemen who are involved, especially those who ganged up on a jeepney driver,” Cortez told the Inquirer in a forum held in Quezon City. Among those he wanted named was the officer who was seen wielding a pistol during the dispersal.
A Sandugo representative called for the creation of an independent fact-finding team.
No concrete results
“We do not trust the investigation to be conducted by the Philippine National Police,” said Jerome Succor Aba of Suara Bangsamoro and one of the protesters run over by Kho.
Aba recalled that when farmers holding protest actions in Kidapawan City were “massacred” in April this year, the police investigation then did not produce any concrete results.
“The violence we experienced in front of the US Embassy mirrors the violence we face in our homes and ancestral lands,” said Malayao, who now uses crutches to walk. —Germelina Lacorte, Allan Nawal and Jhesset O. Enano