Cops arrest 20 protesters demanding food due to COVID-19
MANILA: Police on Wednesday reported the arrest of 20 residents who staged a “lightning” rally in suburban quezon city, metro manila, and demanded food in what appeared to be the first of such protests amid the country’s determined attempt to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
Lieutenant Colonel Rodrigo Soriano, the chief of a police station in a village in Quezon City staged the rally along the historic Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (Edsa) and complained they had yet to receive the food packs and other assistance promised them by the government to help them cope with the dreaded disease.
A video aired on TV showed the policemen chasing the protesters along Edsa and arresting them allegedly for staging the rally without a permit from City Hall and for violating orders to stay at home and limit their movements due to the government lockdown.
“Because of food, they are saying they have not received any food supply from their village chief and the mayor,” Soriano explained in a text message to media in a mix of Filipino and English.
The wife of one of the protesters complained in a TV interview they decided to stage the rally for the continued failure of the officials concerned to respond to their appeals to send them the promised food packs and other assistance.
But Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya, the spokesman of the Department of Interior and Local Government, claimed the rally was instigated by a militant and Left-leaning organisation called “Kadamay.”
Earlier, congress passed a law called bay a ni han to Heal as One Act which declared a state of national emergency and granted President Duterte special powers to realign funds to deal with COVID-19.
Among others, the law also allocated $40 billion specifically to help alleviate the plight of 18 million poor families throughout the country by granting them funding assistance ranging from $100 to $160 each within a period of two months.
In this light Senator Sonny Angara, who is recovering in his home after he tested positive for the virus, joined the call for the immediate distribution of cash assistance particularly to the poor suffering from the lockdown imposed due to the disease.