PNP Chief Ronald Dela Rosa. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES
MANILA — The heavens seemed to have not listened to Police Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa’s plea for rain, as sunny skies welcomed anti-Marcos protesters on Wednesday at the People Power Monument in Quezon City.
As preparations were underway for the 4 p.m. program, “Siklab BAYANi Para sa Katotohanan,” organizers and policemen alike sought for shade to escape the mid-afternoon heat.
Jozy Acosta-Nisperos, one of the event’s organizers, taunted Dela Rosa and asked for the police chief to “pray for clouds.”
“He should pray for clouds so that it wouldn’t be too warm,” Nisperos told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an interview.
On Monday, the Philippine National Police chief told reporters in a press briefing that he would call on all police chaplains to pray for rain, in effect discouraging protesters from coming out and voicing their opposition to the Duterte administration’s approval of the burial of dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani last Nov. 18.
“We don’t have to prepare for everything. We will give them all they want. They can have the streets, parks, plazas. Go ahead, we will not block them provided they will not make any trouble,” Dela Rosa said.
Anti-Marcos protesters gather at the People Power Monument along Edsa in Quezon City, on Nov. 30, 2016, to protest the burial of dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. (PHOTO BY GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE/ INQUIRER)
He added: “I will just require all priests in the chaplain service here in the PNP to pray for rain. The priests will pray for rain to prevent the protesters from massing [on Edsa].”
Nisperos said the Coalition Against the Marcos Burial had its own prayer warriors, who not only sought for the “safety and success” of their event but also for good weather.
Maria Serena Diokno, the newly resigned chair of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, and Bonifacio Ilagan, convener of the Coalition Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang have been confirmed as speakers in Wednesday’s program, which would run till midnight. SFM