The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) again defended Thursday the criminal complaints it filed over violent incidents during the Sept. 21 anti-corruption rallies, saying the police unit was ‘not into curtailing freedom of expression.’
‘If there is a crime committed, whatever and whoever the personalities involved, big or small, whether you are a politician or just a farmer or a laborer, the CIDG will act on it,’ Director Maj. Gen. Robert Alexander Morico II said mostly in English during a chance interview at Camp Crame on Thursday.
‘We have to respect laws, especially if we are key figures. The CIDG is not really into curtailing freedom of expression, but, you know, we have to exercise this right in accordance with the rule of law,’ he added.
Morico previously announced that the CIDG filed cases for conspiracy and proposal to commit rebellion or insurrection, sedition, and inciting to sedition against at least 97 people in connection with the riots.
The CIDG director confirmed Thursday that among the 97 people sued was Cavite 4th District Rep. Kiko Barzaga for both the violent incidents during the Sept. 21 protests and the Oct. 12 rally the lawmaker led outside the Forbes Park subdivision in Makati City.
The violence during the widespread Sept. 21 anti-corruption rallies erupted at the Ayala Bridge and the Mendiola Peace Arch.
Police arrested over 200 individuals, and at least two were reportedly killed during the riots, prompting human rights groups to condemn law enforcers and allege that they failed to exercise ‘maximum tolerance.’
Meanwhile, police said there were no ‘untoward incidents’ during the Oct. 12 rally at Forbes Park, which Barzaga led to call on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to step down.
The protests stemmed from alleged corruption in flood control and other infrastructure projects.