[sustran] Charges filed against ‘kuliglig’ drivers

[Roselle Leah K. Rivera]

Charges filed against ‘kuliglig’ drivers 
By Jeannette Andrade
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 17:23:00 12/02/2010

Filed Under: Protest, Government, Philippines - Metro,Judiciary (system of justice), Road Transport

MANILA, Philippines—Police formally filed charges at the city prosecutor’s office Thursday against 16 "kuliglig" (improvised motor tricycle) drivers and operators, two of them women, who figured in a clash with policemen who dispersed the group after they blocked a street near the Manila City Hall to protest a government ban on their operations.

Wednesday night’s protest at the Manila Police District headquarters on UN Avenue by some 300 persons sympathetic to the drivers’ cause did not dissuade the General Assignment Section (GAS) from filing charges of direct assault on persons in authority, illegal assembly, and traffic obstruction.

One of two policemen wounded in the clash—Police Officer 2 Adonis Aguila, assigned with the Civil Disturbance Management unit—remained confined Thursday at the Ospital ng Maynila for the treatment of head wounds sustained when the protesters hurled stones and bottles at them during the dispersal operations.

GAS head Chief Inspector Marcelo Reyes identified the kuliglig drivers/operators charged as: Mary Joyce Mangalili, 22, of Moriones Street, Tondo, Manila; Marietta Comor, 42, of Baseco Compound, Tondo, Manila; Eddie Managuelod, 50, of Quiapo, Manila; Ato Ambag, 25, of Batasan Hills, Quezon City; Kasir Morris, 28, of Quiapo, Manila; Nelson Pineda, 35, of Quiapo, Manila; Renato Palomo, 40, of Tondo, Manila; Armando Cudiamat, 43, of Sampaloc, Manila;Roberto Eugenio, 18, Quiapo, Manila; Ricardo Dayanan, 18, of Parola Compound, Tondo, Manila; Joey Macalino, 42, of Pritil, Tondo, Manila, who sustained a head wound after he was hit with a baton; Allan Tayo, 35, of Sampaloc, Manila; Guiamel Mamoro, 26, of Quiapo, Manila; Marvin Serrano, 25, of Sta. Cruz, Manila; Norjamil Daud, 31, of Quiapo, Manila; and Eleuterio Tisado, 53, of Isla Puting Bato, Tondo, Manila.

Assistant City Prosecutor Libertad Ramos Rasa recommended a deferment of a resolution on the direct assault case against the 16 kuliglig drivers pending the submission of the evidence to prove that Aguila and Senior Police Officer 2 Edmundo De Jesus had been attacked and sustained injuries.

Rasa noted that the kuliglig drivers’ assembly was without permit and had no leaders. “The group is a gathering of drivers protesting the implementation of Executive Orders 16 and 17. Of the 450 persons, 16 were arrested when violence erupted. Two of the responding police officers were medically attended to… Officer Aguila needed to be confined,” he said.

Reyes told reporters that he was compelled to order Wednesday’s dispersal of protesters on Padre Burgos Avenue corner Hospital Street in front of Mehan Garden in Ermita, after three hours of negotiations failed and parked kuligligs caused traffic gridlock on the northbound lane of Taft Avenue.

In reaction to the dispersal and arrest of the kuliglig drivers, some 300 members of the League of Filipino Students (LFS), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), and Bayan Muna, demonstrated in front of the MPD headquarters on UN Avenue at around 8:00 p.m., Wednesday, defacing the police honor roll of heroes and writing the words: “PNP Berdugo - Bayan.”

MPD district headquarters support unit head Supt. Dominador Arevalo said the activists spray-painted plaques of the MPD honor roll and vandalized the bronzed words, “Go spread the word. Tell passers-by that in this little world, men knew how to die” posted in front of the building.

“They (vandals) were not kuliglig drivers. These were militant organizations riding on the cause of the kuliglig drivers,” he said.

The 16 kuliglig drivers remained in the custody of the MPD as policemen deployed CDM contingents in anticipation of another “raid” by militant groups at the police headquarters.




  ROSELLE LEAH K RIVERA Faculty Department of Women and Development Studies College of Social Work and Community Development University of the Philippines Diliman Quezon City PHILIPPINES