Palace thanks public for peaceful, orderly National Day of Protest

September 22, 2017

Malacanang thanked on Friday the public after a peaceful and orderly holding of the National Day of Protest on Thursday.

In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said there were no untoward incidents reported.

"Most of the discourse was regarding people’s issues and most of it was not regarding personalities. So the focus of yesterday’s rallies (was) a significant development, which sort of elevated the quality of public discourse in the country, you know," he said.

"In other words, it was --- aside from a small group that burnt effigies, it was basically issue-oriented," Abella added.

Thousands of people, pro and anti-Duterte administration, held separate rallies in Metro Manila and other parts of the country.

The anti-government protesters condemned the alleged extrajudicial killings and called to put an end to impunity of police forces.

President Rodrigo Duterte declared the National Day of Protest amid growing criticisms against his administration.

On the alleged impunity of police forces, Abella said investigations have been ongoing against some law enforcers who were allegedly involved in the killings of drug suspects.

"There's already been investigations going on. These matters are being looked into. The president is not just waiting, is not just in a reactive mode. It's actually in a very...quite a proactive mode. It's a little bit slow, of course, considering they are dealing with the bureaucracies, but there is a healthy response to these matters," he said. Celerina Monte/DMS