An official of Karapatan on Sunday said one of the protesters accused by the Quezon City Police District for allegedly robbing and mauling a police officer during a protest action is not a member of the rights group.
Karapatan secretary Cristina Palabay said they have no staff or member by the name of Bryan Gonzales or Ryan Gonzales.
The QCPD claimed Gonzales was among the leaders of various progressive groups who will be charged for alleged robbery and hitting Master Sergeant Feliciano Angelo, 46, of the District Special Operations Unit.
The incident took place on Saturday, July 11, at the Commission on Rights (CHR) compound inside the University of the Philippines Diliman.
“While Karapatan participated in yesterday’s activity, Karapatan believes that any charge of illegal assembly for the said activity yesterday is unfounded as the CHR area is a freedom park and permission has been sought from the CHR,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
Palabay said Karapatan was not part of any alleged incident as specified in the QCPD’s statement.
“In fact, if the QCPD once again invokes the participation of a fictitious staff or member of ours to justify its further harassment against us and our human rights workers, we will file appropriate complaints and charges against them,” she said.
Police said they will file charges against Gonzales, a supposed leader of Karapatan; Kara Levina Taggaoa, League of Filipino Students (LFS) leader; PASADA PISTON president Larry Balbuena, and other leaders from Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Sanka, Lumad, Save our Schools, and Kabataan.
The QCPD said that the protesters took away Angelo’s belongings, including a black belt bag containing one caliber 9MM, Glock Gen17 with two magazines loaded with 30 live ammunition, cash money amounting to P5,000, G-Shock wrist watch, brown wallet containing assorted IDs, and an iPhone 6.
Read more: QCPD to file charges vs. protesters who hit, robbed police in plainclothes carrying loaded firearm