Labor activist and UP Diliman student Kara Taggaoa, and Pasiklab Operators and Drivers Association-PISTON president Larry Valbuena were nabbed by police yesterday morning, just moments after posting bail on the trumped-up charge of robbery at the Quezon City Hall of Justice.
Both were arrested by virtue of an arrest warrant for direct assault—charges which, the police claim, stemmed from the two’s participation in a protest action against the Anti-Terrorism Law in 2020. It was the same mobilization that the police used for the robbery charge. The two were subsequently detained in Camp Karingal.
“They were not accorded their rights and due process. The manufactured charges and the arrest are clearly intended to harass and intimidate the two labor union officers,” labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said on Facebook. Taggaoa and Valbuena were arrested without the arrest warrant for the direct assault case. It was only at Camp Karingal where a warrant, dated December 7, 2021, was presented.
Despite the peaceful July 2020 protest in front of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) office, the complaints against Taggoa and Valbuena stated that a certain Police Chief Master Sergeant Feliciano Evangelio, who was in civilian clothing, was mauled and robbed of his belongings, including a phone, wallet, IDs, and pistol.
This prompted him to file charges of robbery, physical injury, direct assault, grave coercion, illegal assembly, and violating COVID-19 health protocols.
However, Valbuena and Taggaoa vehemently denied the charges, insisting that the July 2020 rally was peaceful. The mobilization was likewise permitted by the CHR, its office being a freedom park.
On the other hand, if Evangelio had indeed carried a pistol, his act may have violated the Public Assembly Act of 1985, which states that “members of the law enforcement contingent shall not carry any kind of firearms” during peaceful protests.
The bail for the robbery and direct assault was set to P100,000 and P36,000 each, respectively. Taggaoa and Valbuena were not able to file bail in the direct assault case before courts closed yesterday, forcing them to be detained overnight in Camp Karingal.
“We demand the immediate release of Valbuena and Taggaoa. Exercising the people’s right to conduct assemblies and rallies and to express their opinions freely without threats, even during a public health emergency, are fundamental rights, which should not be criminalized in whatever way by authorities,” human rights group Karapatan said on Monday.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government frequently used public health infractions as a reason to arrest peaceful protesters. During a Pride Month mobilization, for instance, in June 2020, Manila police violently arrested some 20 activists for supposedly violating health protocols.
“The implementation of quarantine measures and lockdowns made certain derogations of civil liberties to combat the pandemic,” Karapatan noted in its 2020 yearend report on human rights. “[The pandemic allowed Duterte] to tighten his grip on power and rapidly advance his anti-democratic and militarist agenda—at the expense of people’s rights.”
Moving forward, KMU called on the Philippine National Police and the Department of Justice to drop all trumped-up charges against the two. Yesterday, an indignation rally likewise took place in front of Camp Karingal, to appeal for the release of Taggaoa and Valbuena.
“Mariing kinukundena ng PISTON ang malinaw na panggigipit ng PNP sa mga progresibong organisasyon gaya ng PISTON at KMU. Nananawagan kami sa lahat na kundenahin ang pag-aresto at ang ginagawang panggigipit ng kapulisan kanila Larry ay Kara,” Valbuena’s organization, PISTON, said in a statement.
As of writing, Taggaoa and Valbuena are still waiting to be released as the case has yet to be assigned to a judge to process their bail.
“Patuloy kaming nananawagan na bantayan ang kasong ito at malakas na suporta para makalaya sila Kara at Ka Larry sa masahol panggigipit na ito.” KMU said on a Facebook post.
