Philippine Asian News Today Vol 18 No 20 | Page 8

A8 HEADLINES
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY October 16 - 31 , 2016

Tinig Migrante

By E . Maestro
The violent police dispersal of the rallyists from the indigenous and Moro people in front of the US Embassy last Oct 21 was caught on film , has gone viral and has angered a lot of overseas Filipinos and international friends . This followed an earlier violent dispersal on Oct 18 of indigenous people and their advocates in front of Camp Aguinaldo , the main army camp of the Armed Forces of the Philippines .
The Director of the National Capital Region Police Office ( NCPRO ) ordered the immediate “ relief ” of the Senior Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo and eight others , including PO3 Franklin Kho , the driver of the police van involved in running over the rallyists . This included 40 more Manila Police Department personnel relieved of their duties and placed under restrictive custody . An investigation is said to be underway .
There is nothing that would justify the ramming of a police vehicle against the rallyists , dragging and crushing them underneath the police van . There is nothing that would justify the sadistic pummeling of rallyists by truncheon-wielding police as the rallyists are pulled out of jeepneys or of PO3 Kho grabbing a Lumad woman inside a jeepney by the hair and punching a local videographer when he realized his brutality was being recorded . Police men and women are trained to use maximum tolerance , that is their job . The protesters were armed with banners and signs and with words – and these scared the police commanders out of their wits .
The rally program was down to its last speaker and everything was peaceful until Superintendent Pedrozo came to the scene and ordered the police “ to fight back ” and arrest the protesters ; the

Violent and Brutal Dispersal of Moro and Indigenous Protesters

police had lost face with the US embassy , and his rants were captured by the GMA7 video . Well , the police did just what their boss ordered – they beat the rallyists with their truncheons , handcuffed them , they even arrested those who were injured and hurt . They arrested 42 people , the entire medical team including a doctor , nurse and health volunteers and even a media person .
In this age of technology , the police brutality captured on phones and cameras told a completely different story than what the police were saying .
The indigenous people and the Moro have seen militarization in their communities and they were not spared this military violence in the city . They had travelled thousands of miles from the northern and southern places of the country to protest the militarization of their villages and show support for Duterte ’ s independent
SANDUGO members call for Pedrozo to be held accountable for police brutality
foreign policy , distancing itself from the United States . They also called for the pull-out of US troops and abrogation of unequal defense treaties and an end to foreign , particularly US domination .
One would think that with President Duterte ’ s strong and public assertions of an independent foreign policy , especially from the United States , the police and the military would have
acted accordingly , i . e . with maximum tolerance and respect for the people ’ s democratic rights to speech and assembly .
But that was too much to ask . Or think . Bottom line , what happened at the US Embassy showed whose interests the police and the military are trained to protect .
We should be worried . And angry .

Emergency powers ... FROM A5

( GPPB-TSS-DBM ) likewise conveyed support for the bill but reminded that , as previously intended by Congress , there should be one legal framework on government procurement , with the existing emergency procurement coverage under the law to be revisited and further studied .
The Commission and Audit ( COA ), for its part , vowed to assist the Department of Transportation ( DOTr ) to ensure that all its procurements conform to auditing rules of the COA .
The Department of
Justice ( DOJ ), through OIC- Director Leilani R . Fajardo- Aspiras of the Administration and Finance Division , backed the crafting of emergency powers , citing Sec . 23 , Par . 2 , Art . 6 of the 1987 Constitution which provides : “ In times of war or other national emergency , the Congress may , by law , authorize the President to exercise powers necessary and proper to carry out a declared national policy , for a limited period and subject to prescribed restrictions .”
Moreover , the DOJ suggested that the coverage
of the emergency powers be limited to congested areas . It also said reorganized offices should conform to Republic Act 6656 ( Security of Tenure Act ) and to the people ’ s constitutional right to information and state policies on full public disclosure , transparency and accountability , and be timebound .
Meanwhile , Interior and Local Government Assistant Secretary Ricojudge Echiverri said during a consultative meeting in their office , the LGUs conveyed their full cooperation with all measures
that will be implemented to ease traffic .
Committee vice chairman Rep . Gavini C . Pancho ( 2nd District , Bulacan ) and Rep . Luis A . Ferrer ( 6thDistrict , Cavite ) welcomed the DOTr report that the agency ’ s ongoing and future projects would benefit their constituents . These projects include the extension of LRT line 1 , MRT 7 , North and South Railway upgrading and improvements , among others .
Rep . Carlos Isagani T . Zarate ( Party-list , Bayan Muna ) cautioned all related
agencies to put the welfare of the people foremost in all their dealings . He disclosed the previous government ’ s questionable deal with two carmakers , Toyota and Mitsubishi , wherein the Aquino government , through Executive Order 182 , supposedly gave a P27-billion incentive for them to produce 200,000 cars for the riding public instead of regulating the entry of private vehicles and resolving the ailing mass transport system .
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