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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Lawyers' group seeks release of 'San Roque 21'

Lawyers' group seeks release of 'San Roque 21'

Published Apr 4, 2020 03:15 am
By Jeffrey Damicog The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), an organization of human rights lawyers, has petitioned a Quezon City court to release the 21 arrested residents of Sitio San Roque in Quezon City accused of holding a lightning protest which violated government quarantine rules. The group said it has decided to provide legal assistance to the group of arrested persons which it calls the “San Roque 21”. It filed on Friday, April 3, a writ of habeas corpus before the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC) which was asked to release them. “We want to set the record straight and simple: they were not ‘rioting,’ ‘agitating for trouble’ or ‘challenging the authorities’ for ‘political ends’,” the NUPL explained in a statement. The San Roque 21 were arrested last Wednesday, April 21, by the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) for allegedly holding a protest rally along EDSA in violation of quarantine rules. “Most residents had not received government aid for the longest time and those who who had lined up say they have received none at all,” it said. “They were simply too hungry and too poor to pass up the chance; they fell prey to, and did not purvey, fake news borne by desperation,” it added. The QCPD has already filed charges accused the 21 persons of violation of the public assembly law ; non-cooperation under Section 9(e) of RA 11332; disobedience of a lawful order ; spreading of false information under the Bayanihan Act ; impeding access to roads also under the Bayanihan Act [Section 6(h) of RA 11469. Aside from the P3,000 bail each of them have to pay for every violation, the NUPL lamented that “their bail and potential release can only be processed on Monday, April 6, 2020 because courts (are) closed for the week.” “The San Roque 21, whose only crime was to be poor, obscure and dispensable, will have to spend the weekend in a cramped jail separate from their families,” the NUPL lamented. “Their continued incarceration validates the perception that in our society, those who have less in life have even nothing in law,” it added.
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