Anti-riot cops maintain ‘maximum tolerance’
MANILA — Police Director Oscar Albayalde, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, on Monday, said that the government will practice "maximum tolerance" as protests against the ASEAN Summit 2017 continue.
Albayalde told the police stationed on Padre Faura Street in Manila: "Kahit nasaktan kayo, alam ko kaya niyo yan. Salamat sa inyong pagtitiyaga. Alam kong pagod na kayo pero tama yon, maintain natin ang maximum tolerance (Even if you get hurt, I know you can still do your duty. Thank you for being patient. I know you are tired but it is the right thing to do: Let us maintain maximum tolerance)."
According to Chief Superintendent Dionardo Carlos, PNP spokesperson, "approximately 1,500 rallyists" attempted to hold a protest at the Philippine International Convention Center, where high-level discussions were being conducted.
Police used water cannons against the rallyists at around 10:30 a.m. By then, some of the protesters had spray-painted graffiti on some police riot shields.
At past noon, the militant groups burned US President Donald Trump in effigy, a "fascist spinner" featuring Trump's likeness and the Nazi swastika.
In a statement released before the summit, national democrat activist group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said the effigy depicts the American leader "as the fascist, racist CEO of US imperialism."
At 11:35 a.m, three truckloads of police passed by the World Trade Center — where the International Media Center is — with sirens blaring.
Albayalde, in a text message, said that there were 750 police officers stationed near the Department of Justice along Padre Faura Street while another 300 were stationed at nearby T.M. Kalaw Street.
He added that six policemen had reportedly been injured in clashes with rallyists.
Rep. Ariel Casilao (Anakpawis party-list), who led the protest at the Liwasang Bonifacio on Sunday said: "The ASEAN summit offers nothing but imperialist or neo-liberal programs and policies that will put poor Filipinos into a much-deeper poverty and misery, and we are already suffering from such and its consequences are exactly what we are objecting about."
Broadly, neoliberalism is an economic model that emphasizes free markets. Its critics believe this approach contributes to a decrease in public services and an increase in privatization. Those opposed to neoliberal policies say the model focuses on profits and not on the people's welfare and development.