Militants threaten to storm Mendiola today

Militant groups are set to defy and put to a test President Arroyo’s order for a "calibrated preemptive response" against rallies with a protest action at the Chino Roces (formerly Mendiola) Bridge near Malacañang in Manila today.

More than a hundred members of Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD) will be joined by religious groups and lawyers as they assemble at 10 a.m. without any rally permit from City Hall.

"We will show the government that this new policy should not last for long. We are ready to be arrested that is why we are bringing lawyers with us," Mitsy Chan, campaigns officer of KPD, said in a phone interview with The STAR.

Chan said they would not reciprocate police action with violence, but would "insist on our right to assemble."

Apart from this issue, Chan added they will reiterate their stand against the proposed Charter change to accommodate a shift to parliamentary form of government.

Manila Police District (MPD) director Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong reiterated they would not tolerate any violation of the law.

"We have been strictly enforcing laws on rally here in Manila. No permit, no rally is a cardinal rule for us," Bulaong said in a separate interview.

He stressed the government’s "calibrated preemptive response" on mass actions is not new as it is specified under Batas Pambansa No. 880, or the law governing rallies.

The President has recently ordered police to strictly implement a "no permit, no rally" policy, following complaints from schools and business establishments in Makati City on the disruption caused by rallies staged by opposition groups at the financial capital.

An administration lawmaker meanwhile debunked the claim of former social welfare secretary Dinky Soliman that Mrs. Arroyo wants "to bring in the muscle and fear" so as to discourage people from taking their criticisms against the government to the streets.

"The opposition can rally practically anywhere. They can shut down the country’s business district, block traffic in major cities, burn those disrespectful effigies of her (Mrs. Arroyo) without the police stopping them," said Palawan Rep. Antonio Alvarez of the President’s political party Kampi.

"Not one newspaper has been ordered closed. TV and radio are free to report what they see and hear. This is far from the suppression that Dinky claims is happening right now," Alvarez added.

If ever the police warn it will arrest those who violate the Public Assembly Act of 1985, the lawmaker said "it is just to remind those who will rally to follow the rules so these assemblies will be peaceful."

Soliman was one of the President’s Cabinet members who resigned and urged her to do the same at the height of the wiretapping controversy allegedly revealing that Mrs. Arroyo cheated in the May 2004 election.

Meanwhile, a left-leaning fisher folk group assailed yesterday two members of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for supporting the administration’s clampdown on rallies.

In a statement, Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) chairman Fernando Hicap asked Davao Archbishop and outgoing CBCP president Fernando Capalla and its former leader Orlando Quevedo if they are "clerico fascists," a term used by activists to describe any religious leader supporting "the naked application of brute force by any administration in power."

"Does the Gospel of the Church allow Mrs. Arroyo to employ all-out brutality and sheer terror to curtail legitimate dissent for her own narrow interests and for the suppression of truth?" Hicap asked.

On Saturday, Capalla expressed support to Malacañang’s move to strictly implement the law on rallies. Executive Secretary Eduardo

Ermita earlier warned that the national government has the authority to clamp down on all disturbances that tend to cause economic disruption and harm to the general public.

For his part, Quevedo strongly criticized the move by the opposition and militant groups to bring their "search for truth" to the streets, as well as to hold a people’s tribunal to try Mrs. Arroyo on alleged grave crimes against the people.

Pamalakaya information officer Gerry Albert Corpuz said he was not surprised on the position of Capalla and Quevedo, noting the two are staunch supporters of the President for a long time now.

"While Archbishop Capalla is an ardent supporter of Arroyo among the bishops’ collective in the CBCP, Quevedo backed GMA’s advocacy in supporting US President George Bush in massacring the Iraqi people at the height of Washington’s invasion of Iraq (two) years ago," Corpuz said. — Edu Punay, Katherine Adraneda