Duterte urged to launch independent probe on violent dispersal of US Embassy protesters

^{Photo by Jessica Bartolome}

A group of Moro and Indigenous Peoples (IP) on Friday marched to Malacañang to ask President Rodrigo Duterte to commission an independent fact-finding team to investigate Wednesday's violent dispersal of protesters near the US Embassy.

The group, called Sandugo, marched from Welcome Rotunda in Quezon City up to Mendiola in Manila before their lead convenor, Piya Macliing Malayao, was escorted to Malacañang to allow her to hand over the letter to Palace officials.

More than a thousand Lumads and militant groups were present in the march.

Duterte was still in China for a state visit, and is scheduled to return to the Philippines Friday night.

Malayao, along with Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general Renato Reyes, was received by Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Assistant Secretary Ana Marie Banaag.

Malayao was among those run over a police mobile. Her leg was bandaged and she walked with a crutch.

In Sandugo’s letter to Duterte, they said the Philippine National Police (PNP) “is telling a different story of what transpired” during the dispersal.

“It is thus our express plea to His Excellency that an independent fact-finding team be commissioned to probe this case and ascertain the facts, and mete justice against those who acted with brute force,” the group said.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde has already ordered the relief of Senior Supt. Marcelino Pedrozo and eight other Manila Police District officers involved in the dispersal.

The NCRPO chief said PO3 Franklin Kho, the driver of the police van that rammed through protesters, was among those relieved and will be transferred to the Regional Headquarters Service.

Malayao, one of the protesters hit by the police mobile, recalled that the protest was almost over when the violent incident happened.

“Biglang nagtulak uli yung pulis. Ilang minuto at segundo lang ay pinaandar na yung police mobile at nag-atras, abante at sumunod sa pagtugis sa aming mga kasamahan,” she said.

“Kung panic yung nangyari, ang gagawin niya isang kilos lamang para makalayo pero ang ginawa niya nag-atras abante. Sa ikatlong pag-atras niya, doon ako tinamaan,” she added.

She said the harassment continued even when she was brought to the hospital where her wounds were treated. “Sinamahan pa ako ng apat na pulis hanggang sa PGH, dumating pa ang mga SWAT,” she said.

Sandugo’s letter also called on President Duterte to give justice to the recent spate of Lumad killings related to the militarization of their ancestral lands and territories.

The group said Duterte’s declaration of breaking ties with the United States should translate immediately to the pull-out of US troops in ancestral lands.

It also expressed support to Duterte’s pursuit of an independent foreign policy.

“In economics, the president’s pronouncement must translate to the immediate halting of the continuing rape and plunder of ancestral lands and territories for the benefit of foreign investors, particularly those from the US,” Jerome Aba, co-convenor of Sandugo, said. —KBK, GMA News