MANILA, 14 December 2006 — The armed forces and national police were placed on “high alert” yesterday amid fears of violence as church groups prepared for a massive rally to protest moves by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to change the Philippine Constitution.
Director General Oscar Calderon of the Philippine National Police (PNP) said he was placing a tight watch on the rally to prevent it from being turned into a political gathering.
Calderon also warned policemen against actually joining the Luneta the rally on Sunday.
“We have told them that if they want to observe their religious activities, since the rally would be a Sunday, they should go to churches instead. We have to account for all our policemen. We need every cop we can get,” he told reporters.
Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff, also ordered a troop exercise at Camp Aguinaldo, the military headquarters.
He said there was the possibility that the communist rebels or Muslim militants would try to sabotage the rally and blame it on the government.
Esperon, however, acknowledged the military had not validated intelligence reports on plans to disrupt the scheduled prayer rally at the Luneta.
“We cannot quantify the seriousness of this but once a peaceful rally is provoked or agitated to become violent, it could be dangerous,” he said.
Organized by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), along with the El Shaddai Movement, the influential Iglesia ni Cristo, and Protestant groups, the rally is expected to draw half a million protesters at Manila’s sprawling Rizal Park.
Leaders of the different churches have agreed to hold the indignation rally last week after allies of Arroyo in the House of Representatives tried to ram through a proposal to transform Congress into a constituent assembly (Con-ass) to rewrite the constitution, even without the consent of the Senate.
In an attempt to stave off the rally, Speaker Jose de Venecia beat a hasty retreat. De Venecia himself declared the “Con-ass” idea was “dead.”
De Venecia earlier said the House of Representatives would take its “sweet time” in calling for a constitutional convention instead. He said with the death of efforts to push the constituent assembly, he no longer saw any reason for the prayer rally.
“I don’t see any purpose” for the rally, he said. “But it’s up to leaders of the church and (the charismatic movement) El Shaddai. I don’t want to preempt them,” de Venecia added.
Reawakening
Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, CBCP president, said the rally would go on to “call for the purification of reason, for the reawakening of the moral forces, for the just ordering of society.”
“These gatherings will be one great occasion for the lay faithful in the dioceses to express their love and concern for the good of our country,” he said in statement.
Dioceses outside Metro Manila are set to heed Lagdameo’s appeal for Filipinos to “watch and pray” for the Arroyo administration and its congressional allies by holding simultaneous prayer rallies Friday.
A huge ecumenical gathering to press government to abandon its charter change initiative will follow Sunday at Luneta’s Quirino Grandstand in Manila.
A top official of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines yesterday said its members would join the Luneta rally.
“The constitution is so sacred that it cannot be left to politicians alone,” Brother Manuel de Leon, co-vice chair of the AMRSP, told the Inquirer. “It is important for the church to guide the faithful to be vigilant in ensuring that the fundamental laws of the land reflect the ideals, values, and aspirations of the Filipino.”
The AMRSP is an organization of around 360 congregations like the Franciscans, Dominicans, Benedictines, Jesuits, Augustinians, and the La Sallian and Marist Brothers. The congregations are expected to join contingents from the Catholic charismatic group El Shaddai, and the Bangon Pilipinas party of evangelist Brother Eddie Villanueva.
Police officials said they won’t mind the church leaders criticizing the “cha-cha” in the rally but warned politicians and celebrities to shut up.
“There will be no political speeches and no movie personalities onstage. The organizers will run the show. If they (movie stars and politicos) will insist and things get messy, we will do our thing and arrest them as per request of the organizers,” said Director Reynaldo Varilla, police chief for metropolitan Manila.
Varilla noted that actors led by Rez Cortez, who were supportive of deposed President Joseph Estrada, would join the rally.
He also reminded policemen of a directive from Malacañang prohibiting government officials from joining anti-government rallies. Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao, the Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman, has warned that police would “move in” if protesters would become unruly. (With input from Inquirer News Service)
