Police Brutality During Youth Rally
Posted by Carlo Ople in Current Events Aug 20th, 2009 | 21 responses
A photo album containing pictures of what happened during a youth rally in Mendiola Gate in Malacanang is now circulating and making the net rounds. I’m sure it will only take a few more hours before this issue becomes another raging public condemnation of the Arroyo administration. I’ve been watching our PNP “quell” rallies with their infamous maximum tolerance policy for the longest time now but I only see brutal and violent acts against protesters. What’s sad here is that they constantly deny that they did anything wrong despite their acts being caught on video or on photos! It’s events like this which will really erode the trust of the people in the government.
Here’s a picture of the PSG dragging the chairperson of the UP-CSWCD Student Council. Picture taken by Alanah Torralba.
PNP couldn’t find weapons so they decided to get the steel railings so that they could bash this guy in for good. Photo by Aaron Favila.
Apparently they got tired of using the steel railings so they decided to bring out their guns. Picture by Danny Boy Pata.
And here I though Randy Orton was the only guy who would kick a man on the head while he’s down. Photo from Danny Boy Pata.
To check the others out, head on over to this Facebook Album from Anton Dulce.
Here’s the video clip of the news report from GMA:
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV
The video clip above clearly illustrates how brutal the rally was. I understand that the PSG and the PNP had to move against the demonstration since they were already inside the Palace grounds and they had no permit but they could have done this in a more civil manner.
However, I am in no way condoning the actions of the students as well. If they really wanted to stage a rally, they should have secured the necessary permits. Going inside Malacanang and suddenly staging a rally is just asking for it. I hate to say this but they were really inviting trouble the moment they went into the Palace with a plan to do a sudden rally.
Regardless of what happened, I still condemn the violence committed by the PSG and PNP. I hope that the policemen and the PSG members caught on camera doing these despicable acts will be fired and then jailed. The pictures speak for themselves.
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i agree, regarding that PNP and PSG went too far on this. BUT how would you want them to react? just stand up? students were literally banging the gates of malacañang? they were literally asking for it to happen. for me they(pnp and psg) were just doing there job when they were arresting and trying to prevent them to go in malacañang.. they just went too far when they had to kick people who were already down on the floor.
I’ve spread the word already!
DIE PIGS!
they were really asking for it… no permits , getting into the palace grounds… security nightmare… they were lucky they werent fired upon… there are always two sides to the story.. im sure makukulit din yan mga ralliyista na yan .. kaya maybe they got what they deserved.. when ordered to back down they just should have and not cross the line.. when they did .. ayun they got it.. their fault din.
I just wanted to comment; the picture with the girl ‘being carried by her hair’, she’s actually being carried by her shirt.
I have to agree with casmotmd. It’s always easy to cry FOUL when it comes to police brutality, but the rallists were honestly asking for it. There are right ways of getting a message across, and they decided to bypass that.
True, they were trespassing. But an angry rally protesting against a government that snubs its people by saying it’s none of our business to question what the powers do is a different matter altogether.
The soldiers or security can stand their ground. Use water hoses, shields. Obviously they have no preparedness for crowd control, no training in handling mobs without resorting to violence.
And really, was it necessary to grab the girl by her hair and lift her that way?
I would like to know if the rally initiated the violence?
Sir Carlo these are just a few pictures form the whole event right? Have you seen the others? Post the other pics so we can see the REAL and COMPLETE story.
You’re right about the actions of the students. They could have been shot to death since they were trespassing ad were posing a threat to security. If you hear the stories from both sides, don’t you think the PNP and PSG were just RESPONDING to the BRUTAL force the students were doing? In other words, the student activists started it. They were merely giving back the disrespect to the students. It’s just sad that the students had to be that aggressive and militant. They should have planned their rally in a more responsible and mature way.
Dear Mr Carlo please re-tag your photos.
1. UP-CSWCD Student Council chairperson was not dragged by the hair but by her shirt
2. Bald dude in civilian clothes – he ISN’T even from PSG or PNP! You sure he wasn’t part of those activists? Who is he then?
they really were asking for it. they enter a secured area (without permits!) with their war cries and cry foul when they have to be dealt with? its was malacañang for crying out loud! in other countries that gives the agents a right to fire weapons! these kids are truant delinquents. where are their parents? they should be in their classrooms learning about positive ways of making the a progressive one. not loiter and endanger national security (yes! that’s what they did) by storming inside the palace grounds.
to make it plainer, its like touching a burning flame. you know what will happen, you ignore it and whats reaalllllyyy idiotic, is that you hate the flame for burning you.
The moment the students breached the Malacañang perimeters, they stopped being Student protesters and became a threat to the security of the presidential palace.
Sad to say, the protesters were primarily at fault. Did they deserve such harsh treatment? Of course not, but would the PSG and PNP have had to treat them that way had they not cross the line?
hmp! paolo m ur one of the asshole. ur just justifying the wrong doing of this state (fascism) they just protesting to the eloquent passion. look many filipino suffer hunger while ur pres eat at lavish dinner. that could feed thousands of her people. tsk! this is why this country will not progress with this kind of mind. especially you.
I find it hard to stomach people defending people who would kick a downed man. Why the heck do we have laws then?!? If they committed a crime arrest them, detain them. Clearly both were at fault and both sides should be punished accordingly
True, always easy to cry foul and say ‘police brutality’. But like already mentioned, what was security to do with these people breaking into palace grounds? I’m not, by any means, pro-Arroyo or what, its just that citizens should also know their place. Crossing the line and then complaning for the consequences, that’s just as bad an example of how our things are in our country.
@Senior Juan: You have a point about the girl in the first picture. Took a closer look and yes it looks like the guard was dragging her by the shirt. Will make edits in a bit.
I agree with you that the students were also at fault, that’s why I also wrote about it in the piece above. However, I can’t condone the degree of violence used above.
For the other pics, I linked to the album in FB for everyone’s perusal.
From a legal point of view, my opinion would be the policemen and PSG’s action would be legally defensible. As a violation of the law is occuring, policemen are empowered to prevent such.
However, from a moral and humane point of view, beating helpless people is outright wrong.
Unfortunately, these policemen and PSG obviously do not have the luxury of being moral/humane AND keeping their jobs (and their bosses happy) at the same time, thus explains their action.
Not siding with anyone on who’s right or wrong. Clearly, the answer is already apparent. Regardless of what we do or what we believe, in the end, there will only be one true “right”, and it really lies with the society at large whether to accept or reject what’s “right” or “wrong”.
Hi to everyone. As one of those who got really beat up in the rally, as well as what one may call a veteran of the streets, let me clarify a few things:
1. If you could spend some time monitoring such a rally, you would see that we had our arms and shoulders held close to our chests and bodies. When we come into contact with the cops, we simply push with our bodies. For the most part, that’s how cops respond too: by pushing us with our shields. Most of the time, they don’t use their batons. And we don’t punch or lash out. And you will definitely not see anyone from our side making the first strike.
2. Such rules of engagement govern rallies for a long time, and are agreed upon by both sides. Again, you guys are more than welcome to join or monitor such protests, so that you could see that for every hundred rallies, only one is violent.
3. How one can construe us as a “threat” is beyond me. We only numbered around 200 totally unarmed youths (unless you count our fists and feet as deadly weapons). This is a far cry from the previous decades where rallyists carry rocks, pillboxes, and molotov cocktails. It is strictly prohibited by our event organizers. How could we have been a physical threat?
4. Now, let’s take things into context. As I said earlier, we normally don’t push things to this level. We certainly don’t get a kick out of getting hurt. We would be the last people to allow ourselves to get hurt meaninglessly.
But look, we have a president trying to perpetuate herself in power through charter change. One of her allies (Quezon Rep. Suarez, in a PDI story last August 10 or 12) has let it slip they’re just waiting for Cory fever to die out before pushing for Chacha again. And now we have a P37 million U.S junket by the president.
As De Quiros would say, enough is enough. And that’s the point of the entire protest: it’s to show it to everyone that enough is enough. We are so outraged that we go beyond the norms.
And the beautiful thing about this is, we never posed a real physical threat to our glorious president.
Now, a few clarifications:
@SenorJuan: Yes, those guys in civilian clothes are PSG members. Their commanding officer said so.
@Dan: Fil-Ams held a rally right outside the White House during GMA’s visit. And no one got hurt or harassed.
what threat to national security? you call 200 students armed with nothing THREATS TO NATIONAL SECURITY? what in the world are you smoking?
how can you even justify the attacks on fallen and arrested activists? because they breached malacannag security? why not just arrest them for illegal assembly? it is unbelievable how some fellow Filipinos would condone police brutality…
“…I have to agree with casmotmd. It’s always easy to cry FOUL when it comes to police brutality, but the rallists were honestly asking for it. There are right ways of getting a message across, and they decided to bypass that. -ria”
hindi makatao. walang armas na dala na maaaring makasakit ang mga estudyanteng lumahok sa nasabing pagkilos na layuning ipakita ang “nagpupuyos na galit” hindi lamang ng kabataan kundi ng mamamayan dahil sa walang pagpapahalagang ginagawa ng pandak at ng kanyang mga tuta sa gobyerno sa mamamayan ng bansang ito na kalakhan ay naghihirap. na sa gitna ng kinakaharap ng krisis ay nakuha pang maglustay ng pera.
teka nga pala. anong bypass? bakit? pagmamay-ari ba ng presidente ang malakanyang? e di ba sa taongbayan iyon? pera ng mamamayan ang ginamit doon. natural lamang na makapasok doon.
dapat nga matagal ng binubuwag ang mahigpit na pagpapapasok sa malkanyang e. ano bang ikinakatakot nila?
matamong ko pala.ano ba ang tamang paraan para sa iyo upang maipaabot ang hinaing ng taong bayan?
ang taong bayang matagal ng nagpupuyos sa galit dahil sa kabuktutan ng mga nasa gobyerno na hindi naman hinalal ng taong bayan pero pilit na kumakapit sa pwesto at ninanakaw ang yaman at karapatan ng mamamayan. galit ang mamamayan ano pa ang maaasahan mo?
pero kahit ganoon sumugod sila sa malakanyang di para manakit pero i-rehistro ang nagpupuyos sa galit na protesta ng mamamayan.
ikaw ba? anong pulso mo sa ginagawa ng rehimeng ito? kung sa bagay ano nga bang pakialam mo sa milyon-milyong mamamayang nagugutom at nabubuhay sa kahirapan? mukhang sa hinuha ko di ka nakakaramdam ng gutom? marahil nakakaangat ka sa buhay kaya di mo alam ang pakiramdam na mabastos ng mismong nasa pwesto sa bawat panahong nagpapakasasa sila sa pera ng taumbayan habang ang kalakhan ng mga mamamayan ay naghihirap at nagdurusa dahil sa kagagawan nilang mga ganid sa kapangyarihan at yaman.
sa bawat protesta o rally, walang karapatan pa din ang kahit sino sa kapulisan man, PSG, o sundalo na manakit sa mga rallyista. lalo’t hindi naman nananakit ang mga rallyistang kabataan.
Anton,
I fully agree with you that the PSG and PNP went overboard. However, I still don’t like the idea of just anyone going inside Palace grounds and then starting a rally.
We have laws in place for people who want to demonstrate, and as much as possible let’s all adhere to that.
Like what I said in an earlier comment, if this happened in the White House, the demonstrators might have been shot already.
Again let me clarify – I am not supporting the acts of violence. I am merely stating that the organizers of the rally could have prevented this from all happening in the first place if they followed the law and the processes in place.
I’m not a member of any of the organizations. But I’m wondering how some of the people here really thinks like the students were “asking for it”.
First of all, the venue that they conducted the rally was the essence of the protest. How can one call an action a PROTEST when you have to ask for permission from the government itself since you need to secure a permit? The permit would not be issued in the first place since there are only designated areas to hold such activities. The place where they launched the rally was essentially the point of the protest.
Did the people who participated in the EDSA Uprising I and EDSA Uprising II ask for a permit before they actually held their protest? What law or process would have fit their situation? Rallies are legal actions since it is stated in our Bill of Rights (Right to Assembly) but it is contradicted by laws that limit this right to specific places and situations.
Secondly, the protesters already stopped but were still being attacked by the Presidential Security Group (PSG) and the police. And look at the students that they abducted, most of them were women that were half their sizes. Their shirts were even pulled up so that they will use their hands to pull their shirt down and not be able to struggle with the police and PSG. There were also some pictures wherein the women were being pulled from their back with the hands of their captors in their breasts. Do you people really think that this is really what they were asking for when they went there?
It’s true that the police and PSG were only doing their jobs to protect the palace. But that’s just it, their job is to inflict whatever form of violence to helpless people just to protect the institution that oppresses all of us in various means.
Anyone who have taken up sociology and social science subjects can easily analyze what happened. I really can’t believe that people can say such things.
Hi Boy,
As much as I would want to agree with you, I really can’t. I stand by my belief that both the demonstrators and the PSG/PNP were at fault.
Don’t get me wrong, I still condemn the violence and brutality that happened. It could have been handled by the PSG/PNP in a better way.
Thanks for posting your comment though. Appreciate it.
Cheers,
Carlo
Mga Anarchists ang mga iyan.. naghahanap lang ng gulo.. Gumagawa kayo ng ilusyon na panahon pa rin ni Marcos ang kasalukuyan.. Kaya hindi umaasenso ang Pilipinas dahil sobra ang demokrasya, hindi kulang.. Pag hindi puro Politika ang nasa utak nakakapagisip ng paraan para umasenso ang bayan..
Ang mga first world country kaya nila ang demokrasya na sobra dahil matatag na ang mga institution para mawithstand ang mga taong nanggugulo at gusto palagi chaos..