Quezon City (QC) Mayor Joy Belmonte has asked QC Police District (QCPD) Chief Police Brig. Gen. Antonio Yarra to submit a written explanation regarding rally organizers’ claims that Yarra did not honor the agreement he and Belmonte reached with them regarding their planned activity at the President’s State of the Nation address (SONA) yesterday (July 26).
The protesters said that contrary to the gentlemen’s agreement arrived at after a lengthy dialogue in which they would be permitted the constitutional right to peaceably assemble and exercise their freedom of expression, on the strict condition that minimum health standards would be observed and the names and contact details of rally participants be submitted, the QCPD allegedly broke their word by blocking the march along Commonwealth Avenue, thereby causing a commotion.
Progressive leaders lamented that if barriers were not set up along Commonwealth Avenue, the protests could have ended peacefully and as scheduled.
In a tweet, former Bayan Muna partylist Rep. Teddy Casiño complained that “some police official decided to put up orange barriers along Commonwealth Avenue to block the march, in violation of the agreement with the QC LGU [local government unit] and PNP [Philippine National Police] command that marchers would be allowed to reach St. Peter’s Chapel in Tandang Sora. Kaya ngayon barado ang daan.”
He called on Belmonte and PNP Chief Guillermo Eleazar to tell their people to comply with the agreement so that the protesters could end their program and go home. Otherwise, he said, they “will all end up stuck along Commonwealth Avenue the whole day.”
Casino requested that the orange barriers be removed and the march to be allowed to reach its destination.
The day before the SONA rallies, the rally organizers detailed their plans to ensure orderly protest actions while observing minimum health protocols, and these were forwarded to and approved by Eleazar and Interior Sec. Eduardo Año through Belmonte.
This year’s SONA activities were the first time the Quezon City government, the QCPD, and the various progressive groups agreed to work together to uphold both the human right to health and the constitutional rights to peaceable assembly and free speech. (QC-LGU) – jlo
