Relatives of political prisoner, human rights advocates, and
various groups held a protest action on July 10, 2019, declared as the Global
Day of Action to Release all Political Prisoners. The event was part of a
campaign launched by Kapatid, the association of families and friends of
political prisoners, Karapatan, and the International Coalition for Human
Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP).
Relatives of political prisoner, human rights advocates, and
various groups held a protest action on July 10, 2019, declared as the Global
Day of Action to Release all Political Prisoners. The event was part of a
campaign launched by Kapatid, the association of families and friends of
political prisoners, Karapatan, and the International Coalition for Human
Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP). Various coordinated actions across countries
were launched to call for the release of political prisoners, as well as the
dismissal of trumped-up charges.
“We echo the call for the release of political prisoners on
just and humanitarian grounds. There are 532 political prisoners in the
country, 209 of them were arrested under the Duterte government. Despite the
government’s malicious efforts to brand them as “criminals,” political
prisoners are passionate, selfless and determined individuals who have lived
and struggled alongside the marginalized. They are activists, advocates, trade
unionists, peace consultants, development workers, teachers, church workers,
and many more,” said Karapatan Deputy Secretary General Roneo Clamor.
Out of the 532 political prisoners in the country, 44 are
elderly, 61 are women, 118 are sickly, 5 were minors when they were arrested,
and 10 are peace consultants of the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines (NDFP).
Clamor reiterated that aside from the unjust and false
charges leveled against political detainees, the inhumane conditions that they
are faced with also add to the injustice that they have to endure.
“There are already four political prisoners who have died
while in detention under Duterte. The cases of Bernabe Ocasla, 66, and Marcos
Aggalao, 74, show how dire prison conditions have led to the deterioration of
their health, especially if they have already been suffering various ailments
prior to detention. Others have already been identified to be suffering serious
illnesses, but have not been given immediate medical attention. There are
hundreds of political prisoners that should now be released on just and
humanitarian grounds,” explained Clamor, citing the cases of Bernabe Ocasla,
Marcos Aggalao, Franco Romeroso, and Alex Arias.
Karapatan also highlighted the case of 20-year-old Ge-ann
Perez who was illegally arrested last March 2019, along with NDFP peace
consultants Frank Fernandez, 71, and Cleofe Lagtapon, 66. Ge-ann is a leprosy patient and for a time
during her illegal arrest, treatment for her condition became irregular. Aside
from Ge-ann, Fernandez and Lagtapon are likewise both sickly, particularly
Fernandez who suffers from chronic artery disease, chronic stable angina, among
others. All three were slapped with trumped up charges of illegal possession of
firearms and explosives, on top of murder charges filed against the two peace
consultants. Ge-ann has since appealed for her release to continue treatment
for her condition.
The Karapatan official also hit the “double standard” in the
country’s justice system, which “ultimately favors the rich and sentences the
poor into damnation.” He added: “The rich can simply pay their way out of jail.
Sometimes, they don’t even get arrested despite a conviction! The poor and
those deemed critics of the government, however, are made to suffer in jails
for false and fabricated charges.”
He emphasized that this is part of the government’s
repressive agenda: “The arrest of critics, advocates, and rights defenders are
part of a systematic plan to silence dissent. Fueled by policies such as the
Inter-Agency Committee on Legal Action (IACLA) and the government’s
counterinsurgency program, the police and the military build expertise on
planting evidence and weaponizing the law. Our country’s political prisoners
remain stark indicators of the repression that the Filipino people are
subjected to,” concluded Clamor.