The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) on Saturday night (July 11) said they will file charges against the leaders of at least nine progressive groups for allegedly hitting and robbing a police officer carrying a loaded firearm while they were holding a protest inside the University of the Philippines campus.
During the rally, protesters saw a man in plainclothes carrying a firearm, leading to a commotion.
The QCPD said that robbery, physical injury, direct assault, grave coercion, illegal assembly, and Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases violation charges will be filed against Ryan Gonzales, leader of rights group Karapatan; Kara Levina Taggaoa, leader of youth group League of Filipino Students; and Larry Balbuena, president of transport group PASADA PISTON.
Police said they will also file charges against the leaders of Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Sanka, Lumad, Save our Schools, and Kabataan.
This came about as hundreds of protesters allegedly hit and robbed Master Sergeant Feliciano Angelo, 46, from QCPD's Special Operations Unit.
The incident happened as they were staging a rally to express their objection to various issues, including the ABS-CBN franchise denial, on the Commission on Human Rights grounds around 10:30 a.m.
According to QCPD report, five of its police personnel, including Angelo, "were in the area for peacekeeping and monitoring" when they were "approached by several unidentified demonstrators."
"With intent to inflict harm and apparently upon the orders of their leaders, the demonstrators grabbed and dragged PCMS Evangelio and mauled him," the police report claimed.
The Quezon City Police said that the protesters took away Angelo's belongings, including his black belt bag containing one caliber 9MM, Glock Gen17 with two magazines loaded with 30 pieces of live ammunition, brown wallet containing assorted IDs, cash money amounting to Php5,000.00, G-Shock wrist watch, and an iPhone 6.
QCPD Director Brig. Gen. Ronnie Montejo "condemned the acts shown by the leaders and members of the militant groups."
"Their actions were certainly uncalled for, especially that our policemen are there to maintain peace and order, considering that their assembly is illegal," Montejo said in a statement.