PNP: Avoid ‘red flags’ in Edsa anniv rallies

Calls for the resignation of President Marcos to resign are “not seditious,” but organizers must avoid “red flags” at their rallies, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said on Monday.

The agency issued this reminder ahead of protest actions on Wednesday, Feb. 25, marking the 40th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution and condemning government corruption over the flood control scandal.

Asked whether calls for the President to step down would be considered “seditious,” NCRPO spokesperson Maj. Hazel Asilo told reporters in Camp Crame, “We don’t consider it seditious if, for example, they say ‘BBM resign.’ Not unless people are encouraged to storm a place or burn things down. Those are what we consider red flags.”

It can be recalled that the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) filed charges of inciting to sedition against at least 97 people for their alleged involvement in the riots that marred the first Trillion Peso March last Sept. 21.

The CIDG also sued retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Romeo Poquiz, convener of a group of retired military and police officials called the United People’s Initiative, after speakers at their rally last Nov. 16 called on the Armed Forces of the Philippines to withdraw support from the Commander in Chief.

The rallies on Wednesday will be mounted separately by civil society and church and progressive groups, one along White Plains Avenue near the People Power Monument and one at Edsa Shrine.

The NCRPO, which went on full alert on Saturday, will deploy more than 13,000 police officers across Metro Manila for security.

Philippine National Police chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. on Monday reminded policemen “not to be provoked” ahead of the Edsa protest actions.

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“Remain professional, neutral, and disciplined. Exercise maximum tolerance, avoid unnecessary confrontation … The strength of a police officer is measured not by force but by restraint and sound judgment,” Nartatez said at the PNP flag-raising ceremony in Camp Crame.

Meanwhile, Kiko Aquino Dee, the main organizer of the Trillion Peso March, said that it’s “all systems go” for the third leg of the anticorruption protests on Wednesday.

The organizers pushed through with the third iteration of the Trillion Peso March to provide a platform for people to air their dismay at government corruption, even if “protest fatigue” may also be felt by some, he noted.