The Davao City Police Office (DCPO) is set to file a case against the organizers and members of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) who reportedly blocked the highway in Barangay Lasang on Monday afternoon. DCPO director Sr. Supt. Alexander Tagum said in an interview on Tuesday, the police will file a case against the leader of the group for violation of Batas Pambansa Bilang 880 or the “The Public Assembly Act of 1985.”
This after the group blocked the main highway preventing travel inside and outside the city while staging their rally there that gave inconvenience to the motorists and commuters. “Definitely we will identify the leaders and file cases,” he said.
Tagum said based on the information his office got, the group which was on board of six buses from Compostela Valley to be used for their rally that to be staged in the city on Tuesday. Police report bared while the buses they were riding were verified by the Task Force Davao and officers of Bunawan Police Station around in Licanan, Bunawan around 5:15PM, the rallyists disembarked and blocked the national highway practically stopping all the vehicles from the south and north direction.
A standstill traffic ensued after the rallyists initially refused to heed the call to clear the highway prompting the Commanders of DCPO, Task Force Davao and a Barangay official Chairman of Lasang to give them an ultimatum for them to either clear the highway or face dispersal. The rallyists left the area around 8:30 p.m. that finally ended the stand off with no untoward incident happened.
Task Force Davao deputy commander Col. Randolph Cabangbang said these people should face charges due to the disturbance and inconvenience they have given to a lot of motorists and commuters. Cabangbang said the rallyists could not accept that their buses are not allowed to ply inside the city since their franchise have no routes here. “They caused so much problems to the motorists and di naman pwede na ganun ganun na lang yun ang dami nilang na perwisyo (this should not be taken for granted thinking that it caused much hassle to the people plying that highway),” he said.
Cabangbang said he received information some people were not able to board their flights due to the traffic congestion made by the rallyists. Lawyer Joannna Paola Domingo, a private practitioner, who was stranded in the traffic, bent her litany in Facebook after being stranded in the road for more than two hours due to the rally.
Domingo said she and his other three co-lawyers opted to return to their office in Panabo City because they were not able to pass the highway going to Davao City “So, back to Panabo office, in this pouring rain, at this time, all four of us lawyers because SUMIFRU EMPLOYEES, thanks to their KMU influencers, think that they can get their demands by staging this absurdity. May pahiga-higa pa kayo sa ulan. HINDI KAYO NAKAKAAWA, PERWISYO KAYO,PERWISYO,” Domingo said in her social media post.
But, Anak Pawis representative Ariel Casilao defended the actions did by KMU in Lasang on Monday afternoon. Casilao said what the KMU did is only their reaction since they were prevented to enter the city despite of the compliance did of these people. “Ang tanan legality na comply man, siguro ang vehicle ang naay problem didto pere there is a remedy on it (All the legalities were complied but, maybe the vehicle has the problem but there is always remedy on it),” he said.
“Ang klarong tumong lang gyud is babagan sila, so as a reaction nag protesta sila (The clear objective there is to block them so they staged a protest in the highway),” Caislao added. He said the police can file charges against the group and the leaders are willing to face it in a legal way.
