Gov. Padaca's former aide nabbed for illegal assembly

By Charlie Lagasca

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – Police arrested a leader of the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) – Isabela in Santiago City while she was reportedly extending support to transport groups protesting the city government’s perceived unjust policies.

Bayan-Isabela’s Gretchen Valdez, former information officer of Gov. Grace Padaca, was arrested for her part in an allegedly “illegal” rally conducted by various transport groups in the city who were picketing the city government for its alleged gross violation of transport workers and operators’ human rights, reports said.

According to reports, Valdez is pressing charges of illegal arrest against the policemen who apprehended her.

Valdez was reportedly among a group of peasants and other militants who were on their way to the city’s freedom park to give moral support to the protest of transport groups here against the city government’s policies when arrested.

The group reportedly insisted on going towards the freedom park in front of the city hall despite all roads being barricaded by police, causing fire authorities to bombard them with water cannons.

Reportedly injured on the arms and legs due to the arrest, Valdez insisted that the Santiago transport groups’ protest was a legitimate expression of protest against the unjust transport policies of the city government led by Mayor Amelita Navarro and not an illegal assembly.

But the Navarro administration likewise insisted that her transport policies, which involved ordering the various transport groups to transfer to a new central terminal, were only intended to make traffic flow in the city smoother and to safeguard the interest of legitimate transports groups, their operators and drivers.

The transport groups, however, insisted that the Navarro administration and its special traffic terminal head Orie Salazar, were using strong-arm tactics to force them to stay at the central terminal where, they said, exorbitant fees were being charged.