CIDG subpoenas 4 ‘male leaders’ for questioning over Sept. 21 riots
Only one of four “resource persons” appeared on Monday before the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), which is trying to determine if they played any role in the violence that broke out after the anticorruption rallies on Sept. 21.
“They were subpoenaed this morning. Of the four, only one came,” CIDG public information chief Maj. Helen dela Cruz said in a press briefing at the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame.
“They are invited to appear to shed light on the facts and circumstances surrounding the violent incidents that occurred,” she added.
The subpoenaed individual who appeared before the CIDG identified himself as Park Alamada Pangawilan, also known as Kuya Park on social media.
In a phone interview with reporters, Pangawilan denied involvement in any of the riots, saying that violence had already erupted at both Ayala Bridge and the Mendiola Peace Arch when he and his group got there after attending a program held at Liwasang Bonifacio.
He also maintained that the lighters they were carrying were for a candle-lighting vigil originally scheduled at Mendiola.
“There was no intention to burn anything. There was no intention to cause chaos. I was even scolding the young people who were causing trouble. I told them the police and the military were not our enemies,” Pangawilan stressed.
Main players
Dela Cruz, meanwhile, declined to name the other individuals who were subpoenaed, saying only that they were male “leaders with large followings” as she referred to them as “resource persons.”
How did the CIDG determine whom to subpoena? “We captured some of the main players. We were able to associate them with their leaders. In the course of the investigation, we were able to determine who their leaders were,” she said.
According to Dela Cruz, Republic Act No. 10973 gave the CIDG the power to issue subpoenas in relation to its investigations.
Should the three other subpoenaed individuals fail to appear before the police, she said that RA 10973 also gives the CIDG the right to file a case against them in a regional trial court for indirect contempt.
The three may also face a fine of P30,000 and six months in prison if they do not comply with the CIDG subpoena, PNP public information chief Brig. Gen. Randulf Tuaño said in the same briefing.
More expected
“In the coming days …, they will invite over 20 individuals,” Tuaño added, citing information from CIDG director Maj. Gen. Robert Alexander Morico II.
Riots erupted on Ayala Bridge and the Mendiola Peace Arch—which leads to Malacañang Palace—after the “Baha Sa Luneta” anticorruption protest in Rizal Park on Sept. 21.
Some of the protesters, who wore black shirts and black masks to cover their faces, set fire to a trailer, threw rocks and Molotov bombs at antiriot police and destroyed public and private property.
Police later arrested over 200 individuals—including more than 80 minors—amid the chaos, prompting human rights groups to condemn law enforcement for not exercising maximum tolerance.
The Baha Sa Luneta rally in Manila and the Trillion Peso March on Edsa were all part of a series of protests condemning corruption in the government amid investigations into alleged anomalies in flood control projects.
