The Philippine National Police (PNP) subpoenaed University of the Philippines Diliman University Student Council (UPD USC) Chairperson Joaquin Buenaflor over the violence during the Sept. 21 anti-corruption protests.
Three police officers served the subpoena to Buenaflor’s family on Wednesday morning, according to the student council.
Asked to confirm the matter in a press briefing in Camp Crame in Quezon City on Thursday, PNP public information chief Brig. Gen. Randulf Tuaño answered that the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) issued the subpoena.
‘Their subpoena is still related to the Sept. 21 rallies,’ Tuaño said.
He again cited Republic Act No. 10973, which gave the CIDG the authority to issue subpoenas and, if the subject refuses to comply, file a case for indirect contempt before a regional trial court.
Tuaño did not identify Buenaflor by name, only saying the subject was ‘a UP student.’
He also did not detail when Buenaflor was scheduled to appear before the CIDG.
‘Serve and protect’
In a press conference in UP Diliman later on Thursday, Buenaflor said, ‘We condemn and register our calls that we are not afraid of these attacks against the youth who are rightfully fighting corruption.’
He then challenged the PNP: ‘Prove your mantra to serve and protect the Filipino people, not to serve and protect the corrupt. The youth is also among those whom you’ve sworn to protect. Why are you forgetting your mission?’
The violence erupted at the foot of Ayala Bridge and the Mendiola Peace Arch in Manila which led to Malacañang Palace during the Baha Sa Luneta rally in Rizal Park last Sept. 21.
Police arrested over 200 rioters including more than 80 minors amid the chaos, prompting human rights groups to condemn law enforcement for supposedly not exercising maximum tolerance.
The Baha Sa Luneta rally, the subsequent program at Mendiola before the riot, and the Trillion Peso March were all part of a series of protests condemning government corruption amid investigations into alleged anomalies in flood control projects.
‘Fourth youth leader subpoenaed’
Buenaflor claimed he was the fourth youth leader to be subpoenaed over the Sept. 21 anti-corruption rallies, following De La Salle University – College of Saint Benilde student Aldrin Kitsune; Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Central Student Council chairperson Tiffany Brillante; and PUP The Catalyst associate editor Jacob Baluyot.
In prior interviews with INQUIRER.net, both Kitsune and Baluyot criticized the subpoenas, stressing that they were not involved in the violence that ensued during the protests.
Kitsune and Baluyot were supposedly scheduled to appear before the CIDG last Oct. 6 and 10 but both refused to show up.
Baluyot, in particular, responded to the police in a letter, invoking his constitutional right to remain silent and questioning the CIDG’s authority to issue subpoenas.