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By DEE AYROSO

The post True lies appeared first on Bulatlat.

“We cannot allow the violations of people’s rights to peacefully assemble and air their legitimate grievances be brushed aside. As the Duterte regime tightens its iron-handed grip on our democratic freedom, we have no choice but to push back to ensure that these freedoms will be continually preserved and enjoyed by the people.”

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – Arrested LGBTQI+ protesters shared the horrors they experienced during the violent dispersal in Mendiola and their subsequent detention as they filed criminal and administrative complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman against 32 Manila policemen.

Collectively referred to as “Pride20,” the arrested protesters filed a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday against 32 Manila police officers for violating Batasan Pambansa No. 880, unlawful arrest, slight physical injuries and maltreatment, carnapping, and qualified gender-based sexual harassment.

Pride 20 also alleged that the police officers violated the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards of Public Officials and Employees and the Revised PNP Operational Procedures.

“We cannot allow the violations of people’s rights to peacefully assemble and air their legitimate grievances be brushed aside. As the Duterte regime tightens its iron-handed grip on our democratic freedom, we have no choice but to push back to ensure that these freedoms will be continually preserved and enjoyed by the people,” said Rey Valmores Salinas, spokesperson of Bahaghari and one of the arrested Pride protesters.

“Hindi dapat maging normal ang pag-atake ng mga kapulisan sa mga mapayapang pagtitipon ng taumbayan,” (The violent attack by the police on peaceful protest should not be normalized) Salinas further said.

Read: ‘No legal basis for charges vs #Pride20’ – lawyers group

Apart from the Ombudsman complaint, the Makabayan Coalition, a bloc of progressive lawmakers in the House of Representatives have filed House Resolution 1026 on July 6, seeking an investigation of arrest of the Pride protesters.

“We either let impunity reign, or we fight back. We choose to fight back,” Salinas said in a statement.

Arrested despite observing physical distancing

Irony was not lost to Pride protesters who said that they observed physical distancing during the protest action only to be crammed by police officers in their mobile.

“They forced us into the police mobile, where our other colleagues were. We asked them if we are being arrested and what are the laws we violated. A police officer said we are not being arrested so we insisted that we will not go with them,” said Andrew Zarate, one of the of arrested Pride protesters.

Zarate, along with Carla Nicoyco, said they were eventually boarded into a white vehicle, without any police markings.

Nicoyco said they were not read their Miranda rights nor were they answered when they asked for their names.

Seven of the arrested Pride protesters were also made to sleep at a tiny corner in Manila police headquarters, where Nicoyco noted was “impossible to have social distancing.”

“The police did not give us beddings or blankets or pillows. If not for the kind donations of several concerned citizens who understood our plight and understood that the arrests were unlawful, we would be sleeping on the floor in freezing room filled with cockroaches, with nothing to keep us warm but our rainbow flags,” Nicoyco said.

Injuries and carnapping

Joan Salvador, for her part, sustained injuries as the police forced her into their vehicle. She had yet to lift her foot in when the police slammed the door, injuring her.

Meanwhile, Nicky Lamaclamac, the driver of the van owned by Gabriela, was also manhandled by the police. He was pulled by the arm until he fell flat on his face. He was then dragged near to the Mendiola peace arch before being brought to the Manila police headquarters.

Another protester Aljohn Estrella, who was inside the van, attempted to evade the violent dispersal. But three police officers grabbed him when he asked people for help.

“I will hit you if you don’t stop (shouting for help),” a police officer told him. When he persisted in calling people’s attention, another police officer said, “I will kill you if you continue to resist.”

On the way to the police headquarters, Salvador said they kept badgering the police for their names and the laws they violated. They were, however, met with silence.

Upon arriving at the Manila police headquarters, one of the arrested Pride protesters Joan Bernadette Bonganay attempted to get the car keys of Gabriela’s van, which a police officer used to drive the arrested protesters to the police headquarters.

“It’s not our fault that you don’t have a vehicle. You should not have arrested us in the first place,” she told the police.

Gender-based sexual harassment

Pride protesters said the police initially insisted on segregating them by sex. Nicoyco narrated that she insisted she is a transwoman and should not be detained along with male detainees.

After immense negotiations, she said, “the police finally gave in and let me stay with the other women – but not without backlash, harassment, and other discriminatory behaviors from the police.”

“That’s a man,” a police officer was quoted as saying when Nicoyco entered the detention area for women. She was also repeatedly misgendered as “sir.”

Salinas, on the other hand, said she received uncalled compliments from police officers during her detention.

“Police officers would look at me from head to toe, tell me I am beautiful or tall, or talk to me even if I don’t want to,” she said.

The arrested protesters also caught a police officer watching pornographic videos while on duty. The said police officer later on appeared to be masturbating while stealing glances at the two arrested protesters.

Even while in detention, the Pride 20 said they were still threatened.

When one of the Pride 20 asked to adjust the air-conditioning unit’s temperature, a police officer told them that they should be transferred to the jail, where it is hot.

“The other day, our detainee died for being hard-headed,” a police officer was quoted as saying, adding that, “I had someone gunned down the other day.”

Right to peaceably assemble

In their complaint before the Ombudsman, the Pride 20 said it is the police – not them – who violated the BP 880 as the law itself guaranteed that to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress “is essential and vital to the strength and stability of the State.

They said that the police obstructed their right to peaceful assembly, failed to observe maximum tolerance, carried firearms within the parameters of the rally.

Pride 20 also argued that the law’s provision on non-cooperation of persons identified as having notifiable disease is not applicable to their case for the simple fact that they never tested positive for COVID-19.

“We would like to reiterate what we have mentioned above: we strictly adhered to physical distancing. We wore masks because we acknowledge the pandemic that is confronting us today,” the complaint read.

The Pride 20 were assisted by women’s group Gabriela’s legal team, and human rights lawyers Alnie Foja and Minerva Lopez.

The post #Pride20 recounts horrors of arrest in complaint filed vs. Manila police appeared first on Bulatlat.

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – Several humanitarian groups are worried that the newly-signed terror law would prevent them from continuing their services to the marginalized communities

In a webinar hosted by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, human rights lawyer Ephraim Cortez identified pertinent sections in the law that may impact the work and advocacies of humanitarian organizations here.

Cortez said that while the terror law does not include humanitarian activities in both Sections 3 and 12, the exemption provided for the likes of the International Crescent of the Red Cross, the Philippine Red Cross, and other similar state-recognized humanitarian groups can implicitly cover that providing aid may be considered as terror act.

“Legally, this will bring big dangers once the law is implemented and humanitarian agencies are designated as terrorists. As early as now, we can see how our activities are being hampered, how much more if the law is implemented?” Cortez said.

Humanitarian work can be considered ‘terrorist’

Cortez pointed out that the definition of terrorism under Republic Act 11479 is vague and over broad, and could include humanitarian groups which have long been subjected to red-tagging.

In November last year, the NCCP and even international humanitarian agency Oxfam were branded as legal front organizations by a ranking intelligence military officer during a congressional hearing.

This, Cortez pointed out, shows that even before the law was enacted, the military has a list of they deem as “legal fronts” and use it to justify probable cause to order their designation as terrorist.

Such designation will have “serious implications” on the work of humanitarian agencies, including freezing of their bank accounts under Sec. 36 and being subjected to surveillance under Sec. 16.

This, Cortez said, can be done even without notice to concerned individuals and organizations, as stated under Sec. 27 of RA 11479.

“If you have grants from international partners, you might not be able to access it. Unfreezing assets can be tedious,” said Cortez.

Providing material support to suspected terrorists is also penalized under Sec. 12 of the law.

Much like humanitarian agencies, their beneficiaries, too, are subjected to relentless red-tagging. These include indigenous people’s communities fighting against multi-national mining corporations and farmers standing up for their right to land, to name a few.

During the pandemic, several faith-based humanitarian groups have provided much needed aid to communities of indigenous peoples and rural poor. However, their efforts were met with checkpoints and other forms of harassment. At least 35 were arrested and detained.

One of those arrested was Ronel Artizuela of the Task Force Children of the Storm. On May 1, he and nine other humanitarian workers in Marikina were arrested for supposedly violating lockdown measures.

While in detention, Artizuela, who is also a volunteer teacher for a non-profit education institution, said they were repeatedly red-tagged, interrogated, and made to admit to being member of what the police described as “terrorist fronts.”

“I have difficulties in sleeping after our release. I am traumatized,” Artizuela said in tears.

The ten development workers have been released but charges against them remain.

Bishop Dindo Ranojo of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, who led an aid distribution in Floridablanca in Tarlac for an Aeta community, said that both their beneficiaries and volunteers were subjected to red-tagging.

In one instance, the local police took over the distribution of relief goods, he added.

Worse, some relief packs never reached the poor communities, such as farmers in Hacienda Luisita. The estate, the bishop said, is currently under “strict curfew,” which is implemented by both police and military forces.

Mindoro Oriental-based Rev. Glofie Balintong of the United Methodist Church shared during the webinar that about 30 soldiers have been stationed outside the office of Hagibat, a humanitarian group that provides services to the Mangyans.

Continue their advocacy

Despite the threats, humanitarian agencies are determined to continue providing aid for those in need.

“We hope this situation will not be normalized,” said Kim Leduna, executive director of the Citizen’s Disaster Response Center (CDRC).

Leduna also urged the Supreme Court to heed their demands, with the mounting petitions questioning the constitutionality of the new terror law.

As of this writing, four petitions against the law have been filed before the Supreme Court. Among the contentious issues is the broad definition of terrorism, which may seriously infringe on hard-earned rights and democratic processes despite the so-called safeguards of the law.

Cortez said that in the end, the people will stand against any forms of repression.

Graphics by Alyssa Mae Clarin

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