Arrested Cebu teen says he merely took video of rally vs terror bill

CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — Nineteen-year-old Clement Corominas Jr. was walking near the University of the Philippines (UP)-Cebu campus past 10 a.m. on Friday when he saw policemen dispersing protesters at a rally against the controversial terrorism bill approved by the House on Wednesday.

As any teenager might do, Corominas took photos and videos of the dispersal and even asked police why the students were arrested.

Instead of answering his query, police arrested Corominas, together with the seven protesters they were able to apprehend in the dispersal: Jaime Paglinawan, 60, of Alyansa sa mga Mamumuo sa Sugbo-Kilusang Mayo Uno and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Central Visayas; Dyan Gumanao of the Kabataan party list; Janry Ubal of Food Not Bombs Cebu; UP alumnus Al Ingking; and UP Cebu students Joahanna Veloso, 22, vice president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines; Bernie Cañedo, 21, of Youth Act Now Against Tyranny Cebu; and Nar Porlas of Anakbayan UP Cebu.

Face masks, distancing

The protesters, about 30 of them, wore face masks and stood apart from each other during the rally.

They ran inside the campus but policemen, some uniformed and others in civilian clothes, chased and caught seven of them. Corominas happened to be there.

“I am at the UP gate right now and some guys got handcuffed and brought away. This is what I only saw,” Corominas said of the videos that he managed to post on Facebook.

Later updating his post, he said “I was also brought to the police headquarters after asking about the incident.”

On Saturday, the eight were charged by the police with violating Batas Pambansa Blg. 880, or the Public Assembly Act of 1985, Republic Act No. 11332, or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act, and resistance and disobedience to persons in authority.

Preparing money for bail

Presented before the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office in an online inquest proceeding at 11 a.m., the respondents opted to forgo a preliminary investigation.

Lawyers Kristian Jacob Lora and Ian Vincent Manticajon said their clients will just wait for the prosecutor’s resolution to either dismiss the charges or elevate their case to the court for trial.

Since the charges were bailable, Lora said they were preparing the money for bail.

Cause-oriented groups have so far raised P300,000 and UP Fighting Maroons’ basketball star Kobe Paras also committed to help raise funds for the release of the activists.

Small cell

At the Waterfront Police Station, the detained protesters and Corominas slept on carton sheets spread on the floor in one small cell, without physical distancing.

There were food donations, but police also provided chicken curry, fried eggplant, rice, coffee and water.

“I’m grateful that we were not tortured here,” said Gumanao, a mass communication graduate of UP Cebu in 2015.

Parents and family members also visited the detainees.

Police Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro, director of the Central Visayas police, said Friday’s rally was held “outside” the campus.

State forces are barred from entering UP campuses without the consent of the university administration, according to the 1982 Soto-Enrile Accord (in reference to then student leader Sonia Soto and then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile) and its offshoot agreement in 1989 signed by then UP president Jose Abueva and then Defense Secretary Fidel Ramos.

Antisubversion law

For former Commission on Human Rights Chair Etta Rosales, the terror bill harks back to Republic Act No. 1700, or the Anti-Subversion Act.

“The Duterte terror bill—because that is what it is—brings back to life an abominable and horrendous law of the Marcos regime: the antisubversion law that sees every dissenter [and] critic of the Marcos government a communist, thereby justifying warrantless arrest and indefinite detention with torture while detained,” said Rosales, a torture survivor of that period.

The antisubversion law actually dates back to President Carlos Garcia’s administration, but was reinforced by Marcos’ Presidential Decree No. 1835 as basis to crack down on critics and activists.

President Fidel Ramos repealed the law in 1992, thereby legalizing the Communist Party of the Philippines. But last year, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año proposed its revival, citing the alleged recruitment of the youth into the communist movement.

—With a report from Jhesset O. Enano