(UPDATED as of 2:40 p.m.) UP Diliman student Gabriel Magtibay and five other youth activists were nabbed after peacefully staging a lightning rally in front of the US Embassy in Manila early Tuesday morning. The protest action was aimed at condemning the country’s participation in the annual war games with US dubbed Balikatan exercises.
Videos taken by reporters on the field showed Manila police chasing the protestors who were already dispersing after the mobilization. The police, however, were able to apprehend and detain some of them, including Magtibay.
Manila Police District’s (MPD) spot report indicated that the students were arrested for vandalism, violating Batas Pambansa 880 for holding a supposed illegal assembly, and resisting arrest. All of the charges are bailable.
Tinig ng Plaridel reported that the UP Office of Legal Aid, which is representing Magtibay, is expecting that formal charges will be filed within the day.
In a Tweet, Magtibay said they were first held at Ermita Police Station 5. Four of those who were arrested were already released, but Magtibay and another companion are still detained in the MPD headquarters.
Magtibay, a film student from the College of Mass Communication, is the chairperson of the political party Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP (STAND UP). The College of Mass Communications and Union of Journalists in the Philippines-Diliman has called on the authorities to release Magtibay from detention.
In a separate statement, Student Regent Siegfred Severino called for the immediate release of the detained activists, saying that the arrests were a violation of the protestors’ right to free speech.
Balikatan exercises is the annual military exercise between Manila and Washington. This year’s war games are due to begin on April 24 and will last for 18 days, amid a backdrop of increasing tensions between US and the country’s neighbor, China. ●
