The human rights group Karapatan said it deplores the Aquino government’s deployment of 400 military personnel and 10,000 policemen supposedly to contain the massive protest actions set to be staged on July 28, during President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address (SONA).

“The paranoia of a beleaguered President is once again manifested through the deployment of AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and PNP (Philippine National Police) personnel for the rally against BS Aquino’s SONA on Monday,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary-general of Karapatan.

Palabay said that they have been receiving reports that AFP troops are going around barangays in Quezon City asking for names of leaders of progressive groups who will join the protests.

“The additional deployment of AFP personnel for street protests is especially alarming. It appears that the streets and commmunities in Metro Manila are now being increasingly militarized to prepare for violent dispersals on Monday,” she added.

Renato Reyes Jr., secretary-general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), which will lead the protest actions on Monday, posted on his Facebook account the Quezon City’s response letter to Bayan’s request for permit to stage protest action at Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City.

Signed by a certain Elmo San Diego of the city’s Department of Public Order and Safety, the letter said that “their request to hold a rally in front of the Batasan Pambansa Complex cannot be favorably granted as the area is not considered a freedom park and there is not enough space to assemble in the area without obstructing the free flow of traffic.”

The PNP has been using the Marcos-era law, Batasan Pambansa Bilang 880, or the Public Assembly Act of 1985, to require protesters to apply for a permit to rally. The said law has been subject to criticism by human rights groups and civil libertarians as a “Marcosian law” that violates constitutionally-guaranteed rights to freedom of assembly and expression.

Section 4, Article III of the 1987 Constitution states thus: “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.” 

Karapatan said it warns the police and military against “intolerance and violence against the people’s exercise of our rights to free speech and freedom of assembly.”

The group said it has documented nearly 10,000 victims of violent dispersals under the Aquino administration.