Some Iloilo Labor Day protesters, lawyer freed after posting bail – NUPL
MANILA, Philippines — Ten of the 42 individuals, among them a lawyer, who were arrested during a Labor Day protest in Iloilo have posted bail and already released from jail, the National Union of People’s Lawyers of the Philippines (NUPL) said Saturday.
NUPL President, Atty. Edre Olalia, said the apprehended 42 activists and lawyer Angelo Karlo Guillen, secretary-general of NUPL regional office in Panay, were accused of violating several laws such as the Public Assembly Act, Disobedience to Agent of Persons in Authority, Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases, and Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.
But Olalia said Guillen was wrongly arrested because he was just representing the captured demonstrators.
“Bail granted to 42 activists & journalists by local judge. 10, including Atty. Guillen, already released just now while others dispersed in other jails being processed before curfew sets in at 8 p.m.,” Olalia said in a statement sent to reporters.
On Friday, police officers arrested the activists for staging a protest that decried the “extra-judicial killing” of Bayan Muna Iloilo Coordinator Jory Porquia, who was gunned down on April 30.
