No arrests as Cebu protesters rally on Independence Day

Supporters and protesters of the controversial Anti-Terror Bill held separate rallies in Cebu City on the country’s 122nd Independence Day.

Cebu City Police Office officer-in-charge Col. Cydric Earl Tamayo said the protest groups had less than 10 people in them. He said police were deployed to rally venues to try to convince the protesters to go home.

Protesters at the University of the Philippines Cebu rally started their "mañanita” at 10 a.m. on Friday. The College Editors Guild of the Philippines Cebu posted that riot police were already stationed at the waiting shed across the UP Cebu entrance gate at the time. 

BAYAN (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan) Central Visayas hit the government for observing a double standard in handling the protests. 

“If the supporters of the Anti-Terrorism Bill can freely hold a rally without threat or fear of violent dispersal or arrest, then the dissenters should also be extended the same courtesy," BAYAN Central Visayas spokesperson Jaime Paglinawan said.

Paglinawan was referring to the protest last June 5 at UP Cebu where he and six other protesters and one bystander were arrested after a forced dispersal by police. 

He said his group pushed with the Independence Day rally despite the possibility of dispersals and more arrests. 

"It is ironic that the police are decked in riot gear for our protest on the Philippines' 122nd Independence Day," said Regletto Imbong, president of the All UP Academic Employees' Union (AUPAEU) and a convenor of MAT Cebu.

"The police and the Duterte administration who are allergic to criticism and dissent are the very symbols of why the Philippines is not truly independent," he added.

A group of Anti-Terror Bill supporters meanwhile rallied at Colon Street without any incident.