Teen files response to sedition complaint over Sept. 21 rally chaos

One of the respondents in a sedition and inciting to sedition complaint over the September 21, 2025 rally in Manila filed his counter-affidavit with the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday, his lawyer said.

Lawyer Katherine Panguban said her 18-year-old client, one of more than 30 respondents in the complaint, was merely a bystander.

“‘Yun ang nire-raise namin, na walang seditious na ginawa… kasi halimbawa, ‘yung client namin nasa side lang siya eh, nasa side streets lang siya. So ‘yun ang prinesent namin,” she said in an ambush interview.

(That’s what we are raising, that there was nothing seditious about what happened. Because, for example, our client was just at the sidelines, he was just at the side street. So that’s what we presented.)

“Walang participation kasi talagang nandoon lang, nagkataon lang na nandoon [there’s no participation because he just happened to be there, it was just a coincidence that he was there],” she added.

She declined to divulge the name of her client.

To recall, more than 200 individuals were arrested after chaos erupted during the rally against the corruption on anomalous flood control projects.

Earlier this week, several youths trooped to the DOJ to hold a protest over the complaints filed against the protesters in the rally. — BM, GMA Integrated News