Moro protesters stopped from forcing their way into high court

MANILA, Philippines – Tension gripped  the Supreme Court momentarily when some 150 members of the All Moro Alliance for Reforms (Amar) tried to forcibly enter the high court’s compound on Padre Faura Street around noon Tuesday.

Armed with metal shields, about 20 personnel of the Ermita police station stood their ground to block the protesters from going near the high court’s main gate.

But the policemen were apparently taken aback and overpowered by the protesters. During a brief scuffle, two anti-riot policemen were seen being shoved to the ground by the demonstrators.  Leaders of the protesters, hoever, quickly restrained the demonstrators.

“We tried to have a dialogue with the leaders. But some of their members suddenly ran toward the Supreme Court,” said Superintendent Frumencio Bernal, chief of the Ermita police station.

Bearing placards, the protesters assailed the magistrates for issuing a temporary restraining order on September 13 stopping the implementation of Republic Act 10153 which seeks to synchronize the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with the 2013 national mid-term elections.

One of the group’s banners read: “Supreme Court, Anti-Moro and Anti-Reform.”

“We are deeply saddened by this decision of the Supreme Court to block President Aquino’s reform agenda in the ARMM,” Dr. Darwin Rasul III, Amar spokesperson, told reporters.

The protesters held an hour-long program in front of the high court before they voluntarily left the area.

Meanwhile, members of the Bangsamoro Solidarity Movement and Minority Rights Forum Philippines Inc. filed a very urgent motion to lift the TRO in the high tribunal.