The Philippine National Police (PNP) charged two persons on Friday following their arrest Thursday at the height of the commotion on the picket line opposing black sand mining in Tambacan, Tanjay City in Negros Oriental.
Now under detention after being charged with direct assault are Ruben Gusarim Aguilar, 53, and Efren Castro Toledo, 59, both residents of Tambacan, Barangay 4 in Tanjay City.
They were charged with direct assault on agents of person in authority under NPS Docket Number VII-16-INV-14B-00009 at the Tanjay City Prosecutor’s Office, said Supt. Alet Virtucio, OIC provincial police director.
Both of them were arrested late Thursday following a violent confrontation between residents protesting the so-called black sand mining operations in Tanjay City and city government workers and police personnel who were deployed to the area for the removal of the barricades on the road leading to the project site.
The two were allegedly among those at the picket line who started hurling rocks at the PNP’s Crowd Dispersal Management (CDM) team when negotiations to take down the barricades became violent following the arrival of City Legal Officer Arnel Vivar.
Vivar had allegedly agitated the crowd of picketers and started the commotion after he called in the job order employees of the City Engineer’s Office and the police to forcibly dismantle the barricades despite the resistance of the protesters.
Atty. Vivar was also observed to have “physically manhandled” Msgr. Robert Caday of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, prompting protesting residents to form a human barricade to prevent city government workers from getting past them.
As the disturbance escalated and the CDM police moved forward, the protesters started hurling rocks at them in an apparent bid to protect themselves from the policemen who were armed with truncheons and shields.
The policemen retreated shielding themselves while other police personnel from the Tanjay City police station, this time, armed with M-16 armalite rifles and handguns, went after the protesters, two of whom were arrested and brought to the police station.
The tension died down after the CDM and the other police personnel withdrew from the area upon orders of Supt. Virtucio and Governor Roel Degamo.
Meanwhile, Supt. Virtucio called on the protesters to also come out and file appropriate charges against any police personnel or Tanjay City government workers who may have assaulted them or caused them injury during the scuffle on Thursday afternoon.
Virtucio reiterated that the PNP is neutral in the ongoing controversy over the alleged black sand mining project in Tanjay City which is in the guise of dredging the Tanjay River to avert future flooding.
According to Supt. Virtucio, he personally believes it is high time for a court intervention to resolve the problem which, he said, could further escalate if all parties involved in the squabble do not arrive at a win-win solution. (PNA)
