President Duterte must condemn and punish cops who attacked protesters
We at the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino condemn the violent dispersal of
the nonviolent protests of indigenous peoples belonging to the newly formed
Sandugo alliance at the US embassy today and at Camp Aguinaldo yesterday.
Over fifty of our brothers and
sisters were hurt when the police and the military used disproportionate force
to break up their protest. Many were injured when a police vehicle repeatedly
rammed the crowd of unarmed protesters.
This is shocking and unacceptable
under any circumstances. But it is even more intolerable under a government
that has promised to champion the rights of indigenous peoples and other
oppressed classes, under a President who claims to be the first ‘leftist’ or
‘socialist’ President of the country.
As commander-in-chief of the
country’s police and military, President Rodrigo Duterte has command
responsibility over the state’s repressive forces. As such, he too is
ultimately responsible for these forces’ actions.
To prove that he is committed to
upholding our freedom to assemble and protest and to demonstrate that he
supports our indigenous sisters’ and brothers’ struggle for their rights, he
must immediately and publicly castigate the military and police officials
responsible for this crackdown.
At the very least, he must
immediately order disciplinary actions against—and if need be fire—Franklin
Kho, the driver of the police vehicle that rammed the group of protesters and
Marcelino Pedrozo, the officer who ordered the violent dispersal.
Any hesitation or refusal on his
part to strongly denounce this shocking use of force will only further
intensify the reigning climate of impunity that he has further fanned with his
repeated pronouncements that he will protect and pardon all police officers
accused of human rights violations.
It is this climate of impunity
that is already leading officers of the law to think they can get away with
anything—even attempted murder in front of cameras.
The struggle of the indigenous
peoples is inseparable from our struggle as workers. An attack on them is an
attack on us all.
