Council says move to ban masks in pickets justified

CEBU - The Cebu City Council committee on laws and ordinance believes that the proposed ordinance to prohibit protesters from wearing masks is justified.

Councilor Edgardo Labella, the committee chairman, said the proposal ordinance authored by Councilor Hilario Davide III does not curtail the Constitutionally-guaranteed right of the people to engage in peaceful concerted activities like a strike or a picket.

Rather, Labella said proposed ordinance would even protect the community as a whole, and the striking workers, picketers or protestors themselves in particular, from acts of violence from possible infiltrators.

Davide proposed that those who engage in strikes and pickets should not be allowed to wearing masks of any kind and other means to conceal their identity.

“The proposed ordinance is fully justified,” Labella said.

But Labella explained that because violation of the proposed ordinance carries a penalty of one year imprisonment and a fine of P5,000 for every violation, a public hearing should be called so that representatives of the different labor unions can air their sentiments on the proposal. The City Council has scheduled the public hearing on November 19.

Davide’s proposal came after the incident last month wherein a security guard of a private establishment along Leon Kilat Street was forced to draw his gun on picketing employees reportedly because some of the strikers wore masks.

Osmeña, who went to the scene, raised the concern that those who wear masks can be members of the vigilantes and may only intrude and pose as protesters during pickets.

At that time, when Osmeña mayor saw that some protesters had covered faces, he was reportedly prompted to retrieve from his vehicle a shotgun and a 9mm pistol.

Osmeña said hiding one’s identity during protest actions is a sign of insincerity and should not be tolerated. — Rene U. Borromeo/JMO (THE FREEMAN)