ILOILO CITY – Activists condemned police for allegedly dispersing a peaceful protest in this city more than a day ahead of World Teachers’ Day.
“This brazen act was a direct attack on the people’s constitutional right to freedom of expression, assembly, and to petition the government for redress of grievances,” said Bayan Panay in a statement.
The incident occurred last Friday, Oct. 3, when Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Panay, ACT Union Region VI, Kabataan party-list Panay, and Bayan Panay protested outside the main campus of West Visayas State University (WVSU) over low wages of teachers, worsening state of education, and corruption in the education sector and urged better government support for public education.
They accused Police Patrolman Felicito Dusaran Dolar III and another policeman from the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) of forcefully dispersing the group and trying to seize their megaphone.
“Patrolman Dolar claimed he was acting under orders from
unnamed higher-ups and from Iloilo City Mayor Raisa Treñas though he later denied it,” said the activists.“Worse, Dolar and another ICPO officer repeatedly threatened that arrests would be made if the protesters did not follow their dispersal order,an intimidation tactic that has no basis in law,” added the activists.
They were also concerned that police deployed to the small protest were heavily armed and even wearing bulletproof vests.