The leftist Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives on Monday sought a congressional inquiry into the alleged illegal arrest of more than 7,000 people in a campaign against loiterers.
Party-list Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro of ACT Teachers, Emmi de Jesus and Arlene Brosas of Gabriela, Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna, Ariel Casilao of Anakpawis and Sarah Elago of Kabataan said the government’s “anti-tambay” campaign was illegal, anti-poor and violated human rights.
The Philippine National Police has so far arrested 7,291 people under its campaign.
“President Rodrigo Duterte’s verbal order to arrest vagrants, ‘tambays’ or idle individuals opens floodgate of abuses especially in the midst of unresolved cases of police brutality and extrajudicial killings in poor communities,” the group said in the resolution.
“It provides PNP a wide latitude in carrying out illegal arrests, illegal search, and seizures and in violating people’s rights to mobility,” it added.
The group said that while Republic Act No. 10158 that was passed in 2012 has already decriminalized acts of vagrancy, “police forces continue to conduct mass arrests.”
“Reports from the ground also point to violations on the right to remain silent, right to counsel and the right against the incommunicado during these arrests,” the group said.
The group also sought a congressional probe into the death of Genesis Argoncillo, a resident of Novaliches, Quezon City, who was arrested last June 15 by QCPD operatives on charges of alarm and scandal following the loitering ban.
“After four days of detention, Argoncillo’s death certificate reflects that the cause of death was multiple blunt force trauma to his neck, head, chest and upper extremities,” the Makabayan bloc said in the resolution.
PNP chief Oscar Albayalde said he was open to criticism of the campaign but would not suspend it.
The Commission on Human Rights had called on the PNP to suspend its drive against loiterers.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, meanwhile, said that instead of focusing on loitering, the PNP should help local governments enforce their ordinances penalizing drinking in public, occupying the sidewalks meant for pedestrians, walking shirtless in public and violating curfew (for minors).
He added that loitering was difficult to define and that anti-loitering ordinances should be reviewed.
Unlike loitering, he said, it is easy to know if someone is drinking or walking shirtless in public.
Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, on the other hand, filed a resolution seeking a probe of the government’s policy against loitering and the death of Argoncillo, who died in the custody of the Quezon City Police District four days after he was arrested for “alarm and scandal.”
In his resolution, Aquino called the campaign against loitering untenable, discriminatory and anti-poor as he urged the committee on public order and dangerous drugs, headed by Senator Panfilo Lacson, to investigate the matter to protect ordinary Filipinos from unjust, discriminatory and abusive policies and practices.
