By JEN BAYLON
Transport leaders insisted that they were allegedly harassed by the authorities when they held a protest rally on Lacson Street in Bacolod City yesterday morning.
In a radio interview, Kabacod Negros Transport Coalition president Lilian Sembrano said the alleged harassment by the city police, including the use of force and a water cannon, was considered a “violation of human rights.”
A tension occurred amid the protest rally conducted by traditional jeepney drivers and operators against the government’s Public Transport Modernization Program in front of a hotel where the Visayas Public Transport Modernization Program Summit was being held around 11:00 a.m.
They were calling on the government to renew their transportation franchise.
The leaders also questioned why they were not invited to the transport summit being held inside the hotel.
Authorities arrested Sembrano, together with Bacolod Alliance for Commuters, Operators and Drivers Inc. president Rudy Catedral; United Negros Drivers Operators Center (UNDOC) president Rodolfo Gardoce Jr.; UNDOC secretary general Eric Bendoy; as well as Melchor Omagayon and Shalemar Saliot.
Sembrano said they had just left Lacson Street after they were told to tow several traditional jeepney units parked on the roadside.
She voluntarily surrendered to the police, saying she was arrested due to “disobedience.”
Meanwhile, Catedral said he will face the charges being filed against him by the police.
He added that they had voluntarily decided to leave the area after the protest but felt compelled to react when water was sprayed on them from a fire truck.
Some members allegedly threw stones at the authorities, which resulted in tension.
They are in the custody of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) Station 2.
To file charges
Meanwhile, BCPO director Colonel Joeresty Coronica said they will file cases against the arrested transport leaders.
Coronica said they will be charged in violation of Batas Pambansa 880, Article 151, because they do not have proper permits to hold a protest rally in an area that is not considered a freedom park.
“Definitely ma-file kita sang kaso kay dugay naman ni sila nahatagan sang pasensya. Kun madumduman ninyo sang nagliligad, nag-gulpyada sila rally didto sa may [Bacolod City Government Center], and I have already given a warning,” Coronica said.
They will also be charged in violating Republic Act 4136, or road obstruction and public traffic safety, as well as resistance to person in authority and physical injury because two policemen were injured by stone throwing.
The BCPO will release them until the case is filed.
“Inang freedom of expression nga gina-insist nila, indi na ‘ya absolute, may limitations ina. Kun gusto nila ‘ya mag-exercise sang ila freedom of expression, they have to secure a permit,” he added.
Coronica said they were not in a rush to disperse them.
“Kadaku sang tyempo nga aton ginhatag sa ila for them to disperse themselves peacefully, pero naga-insist sila to the extent nga naga-eskandalo na sila,” he added./JB, WDJ