THE United States Federal Police has yet to arrest Filipino so far, says Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez in a report to Malacañang shortly after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered embassy officials to check if there were Filipinos who have either been hurt or arrested over the protests that stormed the US Capitol last week.
“So far wala pa namang balita sa amin at walang report sa amin na meron nang Pilipinong inaresto,” Romualdez. Malalaman siguro natin within this week kung naaresto sila,” he said.
Hundreds of protestors broke into the US Capitol on Wednesday last week (US time) to force Congress to undo President Donald Trump’s election loss.
In Malacañang, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque assured that the Philippine Embassy would check if there were Filipinos who got hurt due to the violence.
“Kampante po ang ating Secretary of Foreign Affairs na hindi naman po matitinag ang demokrasya diyan sa Amerika sa panandaliang pagkakagulong nakikita natin,” Roque said at a press briefing.
“Ang importante lang ngayon ay masiguro na walang Pilipino po na mapasasama sa gulo na iyan,” he added.
At least two or three Filipinos seemed to have taken part of the protest, which may have included the one pictured holding what appears to be a walis tambo, an endemic housekeeping equipment widely used in the Philippines.
Romualdez however still doesn’t believe that the Filipino protestors were among those who barged into the offices of the US lawmakers, including that of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“Ang mukhang galit na galit talaga ay si Speaker Pelosi. Siyempre siya ang talagang namumuno doon sa Kapitolyo. Tinawagan pa niya ‘yung Justice department at kung sinu-sino pa. Gusto niya talaga i-round up. Talagang maraming nagalit,” he said.
The chaos erupted after some of Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress launched a last-ditch effort to throw out the results of the November 2020 elections.
Election officials of both parties and independent observers have said there was no significant fraud in the November 3 polls, which President-elect Joe Biden won by more than 7 million votes in the national popular vote.
Federal agents arrested two more Capitol Hill rioters whose images had gone viral, of one carrying off the House Speaker’s lectern and another who wore horns and a fur pelt, while a top Democratic lawmaker called on mobile carriers to preserve social media content related to the carnage, Reuters reported.
Five people including a DC police officer and a female Air Force member died at the scene while dozens have already been charged for the incident.