• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Philippine National Police said the “Trillion Peso March” protest actions in Negros Island Region (NIR) yesterday were “generally peaceful” as there were no major incidents recorded.
Heavy rains did not deter thousands of Negrenses from joining the march-rallies participated by the religious and civil society groups and progressive organizations.
Mostly clad in white T-shirts, the participants of the protest action in Bacolod City started walking from the South Capitol Road to the Public Plaza, where they converged for a rally.
The multi-sectoral group, One Negros Ecumenical Council, led the activity.
An estimated crowd of 2,500 was monitored at the Bacolod plaza while about 700 participated in a similar protest action in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, PLt. Col. Joem Malong, spokesperson of Police Regional Office-Negros Island Region (PRO-NIR), said.
However, Fr. Aniceto Buenafe of the One Negros Ecumenical Council said up to 5,000 people participated in the Bacolod plaza rally.
Also in Bacolod, a prayer rally attended by about 250 individuals was held at the other side of the plaza, calling for the return of former President Rodrigo Duterte to the country.
The PRO-NIR deployed about 1,100 police personnel in the region’s strategic key areas as it placed its troops on heightened alert status for the “Trillion Peso March” and other-related protests on Sunday.
Police personnel secured the vicinity of the Department of Public Works and Highways Bacolod City District Engineering Office in Barangay Taculing.
“As a nation, we have shown time and again that peaceful mass action is a powerful force for change,” Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said in a statement.
He stressed that a “nationwide protest against corruption must carry the same spirit, calm and orderly”.
“More than a show of conviction, it is also a call for accountability, that those guilty of corruption be brought to justice,” Lacson said. | GB
