‘The PNP responded the people’s anger on government’s systematic plunder with twice the violence. It brutally arrested the protesters and fully displayed the State’s fascism.’
A Roman Catholic prelate called on the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government to release the young protesters arrested by the police on Sunday’s clashes at Ayala Bridge and Mendiola in Manila.
San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza said the protesters must not be the ones in jail but the corrupt government officials who are “the real criminals.”
“These youth—already battered by poverty, flooding, and neglect—deserve compassion, not condemnation. We demand their immediate release and access for their families,” Bishop Alminaza said.
In a statement as convenor of One Faith. One Nation. One Voice., pointed out that while the EDSA protests were handled with order and restraint, youth protesters faced violence and arbitrary detention at Mendiola and Ayala Bridge.
Authorities said at least 216 people were arrested as the clashes progressed until late Sunday night.
Lawyers from rights group Karapatan and the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers reported that 91 of those accosted were minors.
“Those arrested must immediately undergo proper inquest proceedings, as required by law, or be freed without delay,” Alminaza said.
“Anything less is a violation of due process and further proof of the abuse of power that our people are protesting against,” he added.
A group of protesters started the clashes when it started throwing rocks at the police phalanx guarding the bridge leading to Malacanang Palace at the end of the brief program led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.
Earlier, the same group tried to break through the police barricade at Ayala Bridge that led to the arrests.
Brutal arrests
But the police also arrested bystanders and passersby, including students and residents of Sampaloc and Quiapo districts of Manila.
Women’s group Gabriela in a separate statement said that among those wrongfully arrested was a Marikina youth called Chokoy.
The group said Chokoy is a person with disability and a survivor of frequent flooding.
Gabriela said the youth peacefully joined the march from Rizal Park to Mendiola but was arbitrarily arrested by the police when the clashes started.
Another youth reported to have been arbitrarily and violently arrested last Sunday was University of the Philippines student Mattheo Wovi Villanueva who was serving as a paralegal during the Sunday protest.
Videos show police officers hitting Villanueva while in custody.
“The PNP responded the people’s anger on government’s systematic plunder with twice the violence. It brutally arrested the protesters and fully displayed the State’s fascism,” Gabriela said.
Dismantle corruption
Alminaza also cautioned against labeling the young and angry protesters as hooligans.
“[That] misses the point entirely. The real criminals are the architects and defenders of this kleptocracy,” he said.
Alminaza said that the people’s poverty is violence.
“Hunger, neglect, and corruption inflict daily wounds on the poor that are far harsher than any outburst in the streets. When the poor rise in anger, they are not inventing violence—they are exposing it,” the Bishop said.
He added that the real criminals are the architects and defenders of the kleptocracy in government who must be held accountable for the betrayal of the country.
“True peace cannot be achieved by silencing this anger, but only by dismantling the structures of corruption and neglect that provoke it,” Bishop Alminaza said.
“The young people, including from the urban poor, are our future. Their anger must be heard, their right to resist must be respected, and their energy must be directed towards meaningful change. To abandon them now would be to betray them again,” he concluded. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
