CEBU CITY — The Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 (Central Visayas) on Tuesday threatened to press charges against protesters from different cause-oriented groups who caused a commotion in front of the police regional headquarters at Camp Sergio Osmeña Sr. here during a rally commemorating EDSA People Power.
Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, PRO-7 director, said direct assault and damage to government property charges will be filed against 10 of more than 70 protesters who pulled down police streamers and damaged the camp’s boom barrier.
The protesters blocked the ingress and tried to prevent vehicles from going out of the camp.
The police said the protesters who will be facing charges are members of cause-oriented groups like Bayan, Katapatan, and Makabayan.
The protesters, who were against Executive Order (EO) 70 and Memorandum Circular (MC) 52, on Monday marched from Cebu Provincial Capitol in the uptown area of this city and headed to downtown Colon street, passing Osmeña Boulevard where the regional headquarters of the police is located.
EO 70 is an executive issuance that created the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, while MC 52 created an inter-agency task force on federalism and constitutional reform.
Upon reaching the gate of the camp, the protesters started shouting at the policemen guarding the gate, the police reported.
When an official of the PRO-7 asked them to leave, they started a commotion by trying to barge inside the camp, while the policemen prevented them.
In a radio report, Phoebe Zoe Sanchez, chairperson of Karapatan Central Visayas, said the police were rude in playing music while they were holding a demonstration in front of PRO-7.
Supt. Pedrillo Villamor, chief of the camp’s Support Group, said the footage of their security camera can be used to identify the protesters and in filing the criminal cases.
The protesters reportedly did not have a permit to conduct the demonstration. (PNA)
