Leaders of dispersed protest dismiss idea that police were justified

Published: 2005-10-20

QUEZON CITY, Philippines (CNS) -- Leaders of a religious procession halted with water cannons dismissed the notion that the discovery that a politician's bodyguard had a revolver could be used to justify the police action. A bishop and priest who took part in the Oct. 14 procession acknowledged, however, that guidelines for processions and prayer vigils will have to be examined more carefully, because they anticipate more church workers might join protests against Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. On Oct. 18, a national evening news program showed footage of police hosing down leaders of the procession to prevent it from marching into a "no-rally zone" on a street leading to the presidential palace in downtown Manila. During the commotion, a handgun fell to the ground between the procession leaders and the police. A man wearing a white shirt was seen dashing out from behind the front line to pick up the weapon. Sen. Ana Consuelo Madrigal, who was in the procession, admitted at an Oct. 19 press conference that the man was her bodyguard and the gun belonged to him.

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