Kuliglig drivers, militants picket Manila Police HQ

Two days after clogging a major road in Manila, drivers of "kuliglig" (motorized pedicabs) picketed the Manila Police District headquarters Friday, this time to press for the release of 16 of their arrested colleagues. Radio dzBB's Carlo Mateo reported that some 30 drivers, accompanied by militants from the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), also scored police over the violence in Wednesday's incident. No violent confrontation was initially reported in Friday's picket, where the drivers and militants brought small streamers calling for the release of their colleagues. As this developed, Manila police are now collating video footage of Wednesday's violent dispersal of a barricade by kuliglig drivers to disprove claims of so-called police brutality. The MPD said it will use the footage as evidence in a looming investigation by the Commission on Human Rights on the dispersal. MPD spokesman Chief Inspector Erwin Margarejo said the footage will show the drivers started the violence by throwing rocks and plastic bottles at the police.

On Wednesday, at least 12 people were hurt and 16 kuliglig drivers arrested after a violent dispersal of their protest where they barricaded Burgos Street near the Manila City Hall. The drivers were protesting an order by the city government banning them from main streets and relegating them to secondary or side streets. But Margarejo said they used water cannons only after the negotiations failed and the drivers started becoming violent. Still, he said the MPD has started an internal investigation into claims that some policemen applied excessive force in dealing with some of the drivers. Earlier, CHR chairwoman Loretta Ann Rosales said she will investigate the police for the alleged abuse in dealing with the drivers. The dzBB report said some MPD personnel were dismayed with Rosales for judging them this early, especially when no CHR observer was present at the protest and dispersal. It said the policemen maintained the drivers provoked them and started the violence, and that they generally followed the rules of engagement. Rosales, in an interview on dwIZ radio Thursday, had said she watched television footage of the dispersal. — RSJ, GMANews.TV