19/09/2026
STATEMENT
September 19, 2026
BAYAN PANAY TO PRO6: PROTESTS ARE ORDERLY AND PEACEFUL UNTIL STATE FORCES INTERVENE
ILOILO City — We, as activists and protesters, have consistently exercised our constitutional freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression through organized and disciplined activities. The principal source of tension has not been the exercise of these rights, but the intervention and conduct of police and other state forces—including surveillance, intimidation, harassment, and threats against us and our contingents.
Such conduct undermines the constitutional protection of peaceful assembly and the legal duties imposed on law enforcement authorities. We, as protesters, should not be treated as presumptive threats to peace and order simply because we exercise our constitutional rights, contrary to what PRO 6 Director PBGen. Randulf Tuaño insinuated.
This pattern has recurred over the years.
In June 2012, before we could leave Plaza Libertad to march toward the Iloilo Provincial Capitol, police blocked our way, hosed our members with dirty water, assaulted us, and arrested about five of our leaders and members. Such conduct raises serious concerns under the constitutional protection of peaceful assembly and even contradicts Section 9 of the already restrictive Batas Pambansa Blg. 880, which provides that law enforcement agencies “shall not interfere” with the holding of a public assembly. The same provision allows a law enforcement contingent to be stationed at least 100 meters away from the area of activity.
During the 2015 APEC meetings in Iloilo City, police dispersed a peaceful protest and arrested about a dozen activists, including two UP Visayas professors, despite the protections accorded to peaceful assemblies and the requirement of maximum tolerance. In August 2018, a firearm-carrying state officer in civilian clothing entered a rally held at the Capitol. He was eventually arrested after being monitored for intimidating protesters.
In March 2020, protesters were charged over a DSWD picket calling for aid during the pandemic. On May 1, 2020, the Iloilo 42 were arrested even before their caravan could commence, as they were set to condemn the killing of Bayan Muna Iloilo leader Jory Porquia by unidentified persons. Before his killing, Jory had been subjected to repeated surveillance by the PNP Iloilo City.
These incidents all involved state-perpetrated repression of constitutionally protected assemblies. In all these cases, the charges against activists and protesters were subsequently dismissed.
This history is relevant when police now discuss preparing for possible protests as though protesters themselves are the principal threat to peace and order. The Constitution protects the people’s right to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. Despite its Marcosian essence, Batas Pambansa Blg. 880 defines “maximum tolerance” as the highest degree of restraint that police, military, and other peacekeeping authorities must observe during a public assembly or its dispersal.
Police have also continued to harass and intimidate our picket protests, even when they lasted only 30 minutes, at times citing the absence of a permit. May we remind state forces that the existence or absence of a permit does not eliminate the constitutional character of the right to peaceful assembly or dispense with the legal requirements governing police conduct.
The legal standards are therefore clear. The Constitution protects freedom of speech and expression, as well as the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. While B.P. 880 must be repealed and ultimately replaced with mechanisms that provide the fullest guarantee of constitutional rights, B.P. 880 still prohibits law enforcement agencies from interfering with public assemblies, provides for the deployment of police at least 100 meters away from the area of activity, and requires maximum tolerance when law enforcement personnel deal with demonstrators.
If PRO 6 genuinely wants protests to remain peaceful, it must respect these protections. This means respecting the discipline of protesters, observing the statutory requirements governing police deployment, applying maximum tolerance, and refraining from surveillance, intimidation, harassment, and other conduct that may unnecessarily provoke confrontation.
Peace is maintained not by treating peaceful protesters as threats or by obstructing the exercise of their constitutional rights. It is maintained by respecting the Constitution—not by state forces betraying the people they are supposed to protect, and not by interfering with the exercise of the people’s rights. # # #
