TRANSGROUP Manibela chair Mar Valbuena and two others will face charges filed by the Quezon City Police District for a protest outside the House of Representatives last Monday.
In a release, the QCPD said it is filing complaints for illegal assembly, Alarm and Scandal and Resistance and Disobedience against Valbuena, Reggie Manlapig and Alvin Reyes for the protest, which it said “caused grave public inconvenience and disturbance.”
Protests and rallies in the Philippines are prohibited outside designated freedom parks without a permit from the local government, a requirement that activist groups say curtails freedom of assembly to seek redress from government.
The QCPD said it condemns Manibela’s actions during the protest and claimed they were “certainly uncalled for, especially that our policemen are there to maintain peace and order Transport considering that their assembly is illegal under [Batas Pambansa] 880.”
Transport groups, including Manibela and PISTON, have been protesting the government’s Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program and the requirement for jeepney operators to join a transport cooperative as a first step to the eventual phaseout of traditional jeepneys.
