Cops monitoring ‘mosquito’ rallies

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said yesterday it was closely monitoring the numerous "mosquito" rallies being staged by various groups calling for the resignation of President Arroyo.

Metro police chief Director Vidal Querol said supporters of ousted President Joseph Estrada and a coalition of militant groups staged several rallies yesterday in Timog, Welcome Rotunda, the Sandiganbayan and the Batasan complex in Quezon City and in Plaza Miranda and Mendiola in Manila.

"We saw the same faces involved in the past rallies. They came in small numbers, but they wanted to project that majority of Filipinos are against the President," Querol said.

This developed as Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Arturo Lomibao placed units in three key regions of the country, including Metro Manila, on "full alert" to ensure order during the rallies.

Apart from the NCRPO, the order also covers police units in Region 3 (Central Luzon) and Region 4A (Calabarzon). The two regions are the gateways from the provinces to Metro Manila.

"By maintaining full alert, civil disturbance management (CDM) troops will be organized and mobilized to respond immediately to whatever may take place in Metro Manila," Lomibao said during a briefing yesterday.

The PNP chief said CDM units from the two regions are in Metro Manila and will be here until the demonstrations end.

Querol said the opposition has been adopting a new strategy — to hold small and sporadic rallies in different areas in Metro Manila.

"They used to hold huge rallies with about 1,000 protesters, but now they hold rallies with about 30 to 50 people, but in several areas," Querol said.

The Metro police chief said the daily protests set to be staged by Estrada supporters and militant groups will culminate on July 25, when President Arroyo delivers her State of the Nation Address (SONA).

"It would be their ‘big bang’ or ‘mother of all protest rallies,’ on which our preparations are concentrated," he said.

Querol said the NCRPO went on full alert yesterday following the call of actress Susan Roces, the widow of the presidential contender Fernando Poe Jr., for Mrs. Arroyo to resign due to electoral fraud.

"We expect them to heighten their protest rallies daily," said Querol, adding that the 17,000-strong NCRPO is prepared for the worst-case scenario.

Sudden convergence

Some 1,000 demonstrators, belonging to pro- and anti-GMA factions, managed to break through a police gauntlet guarding strategic entrances to the city then staged a rally at Plaza Miranda in Quiapo yesterday.

Police said the small pro-GMA groups, numbering at least 100 rallyists, eventually dispersed after they were outnumbered later in the afternoon by the anti-GMA groups.

This developed even as a sizeable police contingent dispersed some 250 anti-GMA rallyists coming from Welcome Rotunda in Quezon City when they tried to march to España to join other rallyists at Plaza Miranda.

The District Tactical Operations Center (DTOC) of the Western Police District (WPD) reported that the rallyists came from multi-sectoral groups, including Muslim group Assalam, Union for Mass Democracy and Justice, Anakbayan, Kilusang Mayo Uno and the Oust Gloria Movement.

The rallyists are demanding the resignation of the President as they rejected her public apology in the controversy involving her wiretapped conversation with a poll official.

The protest action also marked the first anniversary of the inauguration of Mrs. Arroyo, according to the rallyists.

Police were caught by surprise by the sudden convergence of the anti-GMA groups at Plaza Miranda. Police later learned that most of the rallyists were ferried by passenger jeepneys near the Central Market, from where the rallyists marched to Plaza Miranda.

Police arrested three jeepney drivers who were caught ferrying rallyists, charging them for traveling out of line from their prescribed routes.

The rallyists were allowed to have a short program at Plaza Miranda, provided they disperse peacefully and refrain from marching to Mendiola, police said. The rallies also caused heavy traffic in the Quiapo area.

The WPD has reactivated "Task Force Manila Shield" to prevent various groups from marching to Mendiola, the entrance to Malacanang Palace. – With Nestor Etolle