UP Fighting Maroons' Kobe Paras has offered to help raise funds for the legal fees of seven individuals (a.k.a. "Cebu 7") arrested by the police in a peaceful rally against the Anti-Terror Bill on June 5 at the University of the Philippines - Cebu. The outspoken athlete took to Twitter to express his solidarity.
"To all my people there who got arrested[,] [t]hank you standing up for what is right," he wrote. He ended his tweet by promising, "We will raise money to bail those affected!"
Paras has been using his Twitter page to protest against racial injustice in the U.S. and the pending Anti-Terrorism Bill in the Philippines. "I will NEVER shut up and just dribble," he said in another post.
According to the College Editors Guild of the Philippines, demonstrators on Friday morning were met by police in "full riot gear." At least seven activists who remained after the dispersal were taken into custody, allegedly for violating the standing quarantine prohibitions against mass gatherings.
A 1989 agreement between the University of the Philippines (UP) and the Department of National Defense prohibits military and police presence in any UP campus without authorization from the UP administration.
Police Brigadier Albert Ignatius Ferro, director of Police Regional Office in Central Visayas, denied accusations of violating this accord, saying that it is line with hot pursuit. "Actually if you follow the law on hot pursuit, it is applicable because what they did—when they are violating the law outside UP, when they were being chased, they went inside UP which they believe dili sila madakpan didto [they won’t be arrested] because it is UP," he told reporters.
Philippine National Police spokesperson Police Brigadier General Bernard Banac urged the public to refrain from holding mass protests. "We were alarmed at the mass action and public assembly at UP Diliman campus [on June 4], which was held while strict public health measures are still being implemented to stop the spread of COVID-19," he added.
With social and political issues exploding on both sides of the globe, athletes have been at the forefront of protests and dissent. In the United States, players like Stephen Curry and Jordan Clarkson have joined Black Lives Matters marches, while a large majority of players took to social media to decry racial injustice.
In the Philippines, a handful of athletes, including Greg Slaughter and Jack Animam, have joined calls to junk the anti-terrorism legislation that is awaiting President Duterte's signature before formally becoming law.