While controversial contractors Curlee and Sarah Discaya were being evaluated by the Department of Justice on their suitability for government’s witness protection program, an anti-corruption activist received a subpoena last Friday for participating in a rally at the couple’s mansion in Pasig City earlier this month.
Kalikasan spokesperson and state abduction survivor Jonila Castro revealed she was the respondent in a subpoena issued by the Pasig City Prosecutors’ Office, ordering her to appear and submit a counter affidavit on September 25.
Pasig Police’s Col. Hendrix Mangaldan and Captain Ralph Santos are the complainants, accusing her of violating the Marcosian Public Assembly Act of 1985 requiring permits to protest.
Mangaldan had been on record threatening to file charges against those who first held a protest rally at the St. Gerrard Construction compound and the Discaya’s parking area for their dozens of luxury vehicles last Sept. 4
The protesters hurled mud at the compound’s gates and spray-painted its fences.
Castro however blasted the police and its complaint, saying it is the people’s right to protest against corruption in government.
She said the mud and the paint they used were in fact inadequate expressions of disgust for the daily suffering ordinary citizens undergo from the plunder of public coffers.
The Discayas admitted to bribing legislators in order to win public works contracts with the government.
“This complaint reveals who the police are really protecting. It is not the ordinary people, but plunderers like the Discayas,” Castro said in the Facebook post.
She added that the use of a Marcosian edict against them is also proof that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. perpetuates his late father’s dictatorial policies.
Castro also pointed out that she learned of the subpoena exactly two years after she and fellow environment defender Jhed Tamano exposed their abduction by the Philippine Army in Orion, Bataan.
She said she will face the latest charge against her after participating in the anticipated huge protest rally at Rizal Park on Sunday, Sept. 21, 53rd anniversary of the formal declaration of martial law by Marcos Sr. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
