Over 700 people nabbed protest vs Cari turns violent

CEBU, Philippines - A total of 722 people, including two journalists, one from Cebu City and another from Tacloban City, were rounded off and arrested in a lightning raid of the residential compound of mayoralty bet Marilou “Malot” Galenzoga here in Baybay City at around 2 a.m. Monday.

The arrested people, some of whom were women and minors, were detained at the city jail and the provincial jail of Leyte, by a composite team of policemen from this city and other LGUs, as well as military troops, for allegedly destroying city government properties during an indignation rally held Sunday afternoon.

According to Supt. Carlito Gallardo, City Police chief, the raid was done as part of the hot pursuit operations following the protest rally by thousands of demonstrators or Galenzoga supporters who broke through the police barricades and entered the City Hall compound resulting in a riot.  

Hours before the raid, Gallardo and about a hundred policemen and soldiers tried to talk with the security of the Galenzoga property to surrender the leaders of the protest rally reportedly for questioning to shed light on the afternoon incident.

Gallardo had with him a list of 23 persons, including Galenzoga herself, her runningmate and four bets for councilor, who the police “wanted to invite” to the station for questioning. He told the media, gathered outside the residence’s gate, that the number may increased depending on who would be identified as among those who led the rally, based on the footage of the CCTV cameras around the City Hall compound.

At around 2 a.m. Monday, the police decided to carry out the raid of the Galenzoga residence. A military truck was used to break through the closed gate and authorities armed with high-powered firearms rushed inside, ordering everybody there to squat with their arms on their heads, while the police searched the place for some evidences.

The authorities failed to get Galenzoga who was not around at the time, but they apprehended more than 700 people from the compound and showed to reporters some firearms they allegedly discovered from the house, as well as computers and cameras they said to contain pictures of the rally, purportedly for evidences.

The Sunday rally, which came after a thanksgiving mass for Galenzoga at the adjacent church, turned violent when the demonstrators clashed with the police who tried to disperse the crowd, using pressurized water from a fire truck.

The demonstrators, some of them carrying placards and shouting invectives against the administration, said they were protesting the proclamation of incumbent Mayor Carmen Cari by the City Board of Canvassers, headed by Comelec officer Susan Collamar on May 14, 2013, which they insisted was done illegally because the CBOC composition was allegedly illegal from the start.

It was a stone-throwing battle between the police and the demonstrators, made more violent when the police were forced to strike back with truncheons on those who were able to penetrate the barricades and took pictures of the scene.

The melee lasted for about an hour, leaving at least seven policemen and several Galenzoga supporters wounded. An 18-year-old bystander was also injured by a stray bullet from an unknown source, and was rushed to the nearby hospital.

The aftermath of the scene was littered with stones, broken glass of the City Hall and adjacent buildings, shattered windows of a parked car, and an overturned electric car of the City Police, while the tires of the buses of the demonstrators were stabbed and deflated, allegedly by some unidentified people who helped the police dispersed the protesters.

Father Patrick Paraiso, a priest from Manila who was a Baybayanon and one of those who celebrated mass for Galenzoga, said that right after the church rites, a policeman allegedly struck a photographer who went near the police line to take pictures of the barricade, and he claimed that it was this act that angered the demonstrators and stirred them to fight back.

Chief Insp. Edgar Esmero of the Leyte Provincial Police Office said that, after the apprehension, some of those detained—especially women and minors—were released reportedly upon orders of the Police Regional Office-8. He added that the arrests were part of the hot pursuit operations, and that four more persons were nabbed on Tuesday for alleged involvement in the violent incident.

Paraiso said some nuns of the Baybay City-based Franciscan Sisters visited the remaining detainees, which included Galenzoga’s brother and office staffs, to provide assistance and foods.

The priest said the Galenzoga camp was mulling on filing cases of warrantless arrests and human rights violations against the police who he claimed to have allowed, in front of them, unidentified people beat up some of the apprehended Galenzoga supporters.

Efforts to contact Gallardo yesterday proved futile, as he did not answer calls for clarification on the incident. But sources said that, as of yesterday, majority of those detained were already released and only 24 remained in detention with cases of sedition reportedly filed against them. —from Leyte-based correspondents