Palace neighborhood declared a ‘protected area’

Malacañang declared its surrounding neighborhood a "protected area" and moved yesterday to prevent anti-government protests under the guise of Masses and other religious activities in churches within the area.

Presidential Security Group (PSG) chief Brig. Gen. Delfin Bangit appealed to Monsignor Ernesto Cruz, parish priest of the National Shrine of St. Michael the Archangel (formerly San Miguel Church), a few blocks from Malacañang, not to allow his church to be used for anti-government rallies.

Members of the United Opposition attended a Mass there last Monday but later unfurled a banner calling for a "caretaker council" to replace President Arroyo, whom they accuse of cheating in last year’s presidential election.

Another anti-Arroyo group, Bukluran ng Katotohanan (Coalition for Truth), held a Mass yesterday at San Miguel Church.

"It is on this note that this command respectfully appeals to the fairness and reverence of your church so that political scenarios hidden under the guise of a religious activity could be avoided in the future and thus prevent pious churchgoers from being misled," Bangit said in his letter to Cruz.

"This would allow the PSG to perform its legal mandate of securing the Malacañang Palace complex without hampering your church’s religious activities," he said.

Cruz, however, said his parish was not particular about who attends Mass and only asks about the priest officiating it. It is common for churchgoers requesting Masses to supply their own priest, whose homily he has no control over, Cruz said.

"Honestly, I don’t see any problem with that Mass last Oct. 24. That group has as much right as any other to use the church to celebrate the Eucharist for as long as proper decorum in church is observed. I believe you will be perfectly within your right to act if the gathering becomes violent and unruly," Cruz said in his reply letter.

But Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said there is legal justification for banning protest actions around Malacañang, citing a 1985 Supreme Court ruling "which sustains the government’s position that Malacañang Palace is a protected area."

Citing a memo from Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, he said the court ruled that reasonable restrictions in the use of thoroughfares near the Palace are valid because the same is designed to protect the lives of the President and her family as well as other government officials, diplomats and foreign guests.

Ermita said he has been receiving reports that opposition figures planned to hold Masses at St. Michael or at St. Jude’s church, which is also a few blocks from Malacañang.

"Malacañang is considered a protected area," Ermita said. "We all know that based on who has been attending the Masses that the aim is to creep into the security area of Malacañang."

Ermita said the opposition "might be bringing some groups as (though) going to church, and you know St. Jude is the saint of the impossible... We in government also pray that these impossible people can be neutralized."

He said such groups might again stage political or protest activities and it could become "very uncomfortable that they are only a spitting distance away from Malacañang."

Ermita appealed to opposition leaders not to use Masses or other religious activities as a pretext for staging political protests.

He noted that last Monday’s Mass had no communion offering but only homilies and that anti-government banners and stickers were found in vehicles of some of the opposition members.

"It means that they were not bringing prayers and rosaries but stickers… let’s not fool each other and resort to gimmicks," Ermita said.

Security was unusually tight at the Palace yesterday with PSG personnel in full battle gear deployed at the gates. At least three layers of security checks were put in place and all those entering the complex on foot or in vehicles were thoroughly checked.

Lilia Tolentino, a veteran Palace reporter of the Pilipino Star Ngayon, had her handbag checked four times even after she had shown her press ID.

At least nine M-35 military trucks, two buses containing PSG personnel and a Hummer vehicle were seen last night driving toward the Nagtahan and the Ayala gate.

At Kalayaan Hall, more armed PSG men were seen boarding a bus that later sped toward the gates. As of press time, only the gate at J.P. Laurel near Nagtahan Bridge remained open to traffic.

Workers were also seen rushing the construction of a tall wall of galvanized iron sheets along one Palace gate facing the road toward Chino Roces Bridge, which is the favorite venue of anti-government street protests.

The PSG also sent an armed officer in military uniform to the press office of the Malacañang Press Corps, raising a howl of protest from reporters.

When Tolentino confronted him, the officer said he was sent as a media liaison. He returned wearing civilian clothes.

The reporters raised the matter with Ermita, who said he would look into the matter.

Bangit, however, told the STAR that the officer was actually sent to Kalayaan Hall as a media liaison to clarify matters regarding the stepped-up security measures and other issues with the PSG.

"We are just reviving the media liaison to clarify matters," Bangit said, although he conceded that the press corps should have been notified first.

Bangit also said the construction at Gate Seven was just a scaffolding for an engineering project that has "nothing to do with security." — With Edu Punay