MANILA, Philippines — Though the right to protest is protected by the Constitution, demonstrators should not enjoy the chartered independence of the University of the Philippines too much, the chief of the national police said on Wednesday.
Speaking in an interview aired over ANC, Police Gen. Archie Gamboa said that all arrests of protesters were due to violations of quarantine rules and had nothing to do with the controversial anti-terrorism law.
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"You should police your own activities there, wag niyo masyadong i-exercise yung chartered independence niyo doon (do not exercise your chartered independence too much)," he said.
Under a 1989 agreement between then UP President Jose Abueva and then Defense Secretary Fidel Ramos, military and police activities in any UP campus or regional unit require prior notification of the university president, chancellor or dean.
The same agreement holds that military, police and militia personnel cannot enter any UP campus "except in cases of hot pursuit and similar occasions of emergency" or when assistance is requested by university officials.
"The Philippine National Police has tolerated this. I constantly tell the regional director to give a fair warning... Look at the basis for the arrests. It's violation of quarantine protocols. We need to contextualize it. Right now, we say if you want to protest, it has to be in UP," Gamboa said in a mix of English and Filipino.
The national police has generally not tolerated protests.
READ: CHR: Freedom Parks protected from 'no permit, no rally' policy
"Of course, if it's in UP, then we have to look there too, because they should police their own activities there too. The police will just be there to react if they need the Philippine National Police," he added.
'PNP tolerates protests'
Whether held online or within the confines of the UP campus, police have also arrested protesters who had aired their views outside of mass gatherings.
During the "Grand Mañanita" Independence Day rally — named after Police Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas' birthday gathering for which he has yet to be made accountable — held in the university campus, police set up checkpoints to deter protesters from entering university grounds.
Photographs of the protests show that demonstrators all wore face masks and observed social distancing. The Commission on Human Rights, whose grounds are within the University of the Philippines' campus, also said that it would be deploying monitoring teams to ensure that physical distancing is observed among protesters.
A separate protest action held outside the Cebu campus of the University of the Philippines resulted in the arrests of seven activists and one bystander.
Although Gamboa says the arrests were mostly for failing to observe social distancing, he also said that protesters went too far, saying: "It seemed like they really try the tolerance of police to some extent. They are going too far already, which is tantamount to disobedience that's why we caused the arrest."
Another protest action at the CHR grounds, held in response to the junking of ABS-CBN Corp.'s application for a renewed legislative franchise, saw one officer in civilian clothing from the Quezon City Police District taken into custody by the university's independent police force for bringing a gun into campus.
READ: QCPD says cop mauled, robbed amid reports he was apprehended by campus police
The QCPD claimed that the cop was mauled and robbed by protestors who attacked him unprovoked. They went as far as saying they would file charges against a number of activists whose names they got wrong.
Despite the protest happening in a freedom park, QCPD held that the protest was illegal to justify the presence of police on the ground. Witnesses present during the incident said that the cops were taking pictures of protesters.
Freedom parks are exempt from the requirement of rally permits.
SONA arrests
Though police routinely cite quarantine violations as the main reason for apprehending activists, the country's top cop also cited Batasang Pambansa 880, a Marcos-era law that includes a “no permit, no rally” provision.
On Monday, the day of President Rodrigo Duterte's penultimate State of the Nation Address, the PNP effected the arrests of protesters, including members of transport group PISTON who were on their way to the university grounds.
During the same interview, Gamboa also defended Sinas, National Capital Region Police Office director, for holding a birthday party while Metro Manila was under enhanced community quarantine and for his eviction attempt of a family in Taguig.
READ: 'Closed issue': Gamboa defends Sinas over mañanita, attempted eviction | Manila police: Placards confiscated 'before activists could do what they planned to do'
He also claimed that cops who interrupted an ongoing mass to take one churchgoer's protest placards did so at the request of the church itself.
A security report from Quiapo Church obtained by Philstar.com did not mention that guards had asked the police for help although it did note that they asked churchgoers to refrain from holding up placards.
In a statement by the agency's public information office on the day of Duterte's address, the national police said it "monitored about 1,790 rallyists who strictly complied with the set time limit and peacefully dispersed." The other arrests made that day were not mentioned.
"Traditionally we tolerate it, but we've already said that 'look, times now are different.' Look at the increase in infection in Manila...those who were charged were not charged because they exercised their freedom of expression. They were charged because of quarantine protocols [and] some people just refuse to understand," Gamboa said.