DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 16 Aug)—The Office of the Student Regent of the University of the Philippines condemned the “violence, disrespect, and abuse of law” allegedly committed by local law enforcers after student delegates were flagged down on Wednesday morning while en route to the venue of the planned protest action at the Freedom Park along Roxas Avenue here.
The UP student leaders and campus journalists return to the UP Mindanao campus in Mintal, Davao City after police blocked the jeepneys they rented to bring them to their planned protest area, at the Freedom Park downtown. Photo courtesy of Davao City Police Office
Some 173 delegates composed of student council leaders and student journalists from the different campuses of the UP System have converged in Davao for the 55th General Assembly of Student Councils (GASC) slated for August 17 to 19 at UP Mindanao.
In a statement, student regent Siegfred Severino said that the Traffic Enforcement Unit of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) allegedly hurled abusive remarks against him and other student delegates, and even threatened with “physical violence” those who were trying to negotiate with authorities.
He lamented how UP Student Council leaders encountered “violence and harassment from the state forces who were hell-bent in preventing us from exercising our rights” of organization and free expression at the Freedom Park.
Capt. Hazel Tuazon, DCPO spokesperson, said that the student leaders were not harassed by the police, but that authorities only chanced upon the convoy of public utility vehicles carrying the student leaders.
She said that during the joint operation conducted by the DCPO’s Traffic Enforcement Unit, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board-Davao, and LTO-Davao, the eight jeepneys were flagged down at the Bypass Road in Ulas because of violations and were later impounded at the Land Transportation Office-Davao in Barangay Tugbok.
She said that seven units were intercepted for allegedly being “out of line” in violation of Republic Act 4136 or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code and one seized for being a “colorum.
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Himati, UP Mindanao’s official student publication, reported that the units were impounded as of 10:30 a.m.
Delegates, however, staged a rally back at the UP-Mindanao campus, according to the student publication.
It said that the GASC “is a bi-annual gathering of student councils all over the UP System to discuss, debate and resolve campus, system, and national issues. This GASC will also hold the selection of the 40th student regent of the University.
” (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
