Political prisoners face forced dispersal as Whole of Nation approach implemented in jails – Karapatan

Karapatan
raised objections against an ongoing scheme by the Department of National
Defense, through the Bureau of Jail and Management and Penology (BJMP)
officials, to disperse political prisoners and transfer them to different
detention facilities outside of Metro Manila. Calling the plan “surreptitious
and detrimental to the long-term health and well-being of political prisoners,”
Karapatan said this is part of the military’s whole-of-nation approach (WONA)
in jails.

Karapatan
raised objections against an ongoing scheme by the Department of National
Defense, through the Bureau of Jail and Management and Penology (BJMP)
officials, to disperse political prisoners and transfer them to different
detention facilities outside of Metro Manila. Calling the plan “surreptitious
and detrimental to the long-term health and well-being of political prisoners,”
Karapatan said this is part of the military’s whole-of-nation approach (WONA)
in jails. Many of the political detainees affected by this are those detained
at the Metro Manila District Jail 4, Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City.

As of this
writing, transfer requests are filed for eleven political prisoners from MMDJ 4
to provincial jails in Laguna, Quezon, and Bulacan.

Karapatan
deputy secretary general Roneo Clamor said that as of November 2019, there are
629 political prisoners in the country. Under Duterte’s term, state forces have
arrested 382 individuals – activists, community leaders, teachers, human rights
defenders, organizers, among others – and charged with trumped-up charges.
“Duterte has arrested more in half his term than the entire 6-year leadership
of his predecessor. Not only has Duterte smoothened out the creases in filing
trumped-up charges and using judicial harassment, he now draws up more
restrictive schemes to inflict further injustice against political prisoners.
This is a truly merciless government,” he added.

Clamor
referred to the statement of BJMP National Chief J/Dir Allan Sullano Iral which
explicitly mentioned that the forced dispersal is alongside the implementation
of the “whole of nation approach to End Local Communist Armed Conflict
(ELCAC),” as mandated under Executive Order No. 70, series of 2018. He also
referred to a DND memorandum that orders the dispersal of political prisoners,
especially National Democratic Front (NDF) peace consultants.

“The
memorandum and the motive behind this is to prevent any legitimate and united
effort by political prisoners and fellow detainees and inmates to address the
deplorable conditions inside jails and to subject the political prisoners to
far worse, and even dangerous, situations. In the context where many are
sickly, estimated to be 113 political prisoners, this forced dispersal will
have profound implications on their health and well-being. The congestion rates
in the Manila City Jail, Quezon City Jail and those in Region IV-A are at 400%
to 600% already!” explained Clamor, adding that the unity of political
prisoners have forced BJMP officials to remove inhumane and degrading
procedures such as strip searches, allowed PPs to ask accountability amid lack
of water and electricity, assert visitation rights and remind officials of
prisoner’s rights.

Karapatan also
asserted the transfer of political prisoners in jails, particularly in the same
area where common offenders or criminals, are detained will endanger their
lives. “These individuals are being persecuted already by a government that
brands them as enemies of the State. It is not far-fetched, as in the cases of
former Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa and Genesis “Tisoy” Argoncillo,
who were both killed in separate incidents while under detention, that the
Duterte administration is cooking up plans for assassinations of political
prisoners while in detention,” Clamor said. As of this writing, transfer requests
are filed for six political prisoners from MMDJ 4 to provincial jails in
Laguna, Quezon, and Bulacan.

There are
international standards, including the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the
Treatment of Prisoners, which should be followed by BJMP officials: “We must
always be reminded that the detention of political prisoners is already an
injustice. Every day in jail adds to the government’s faults against political
prisoners. Now, with the whole of nation approach and the forced dispersal,
they want to take away even the minimum treatment and worsen their already dire
conditions.”

Clamor also
emphasized that PPs were victims of trumped-up charges and arbitrary arrests.
“Many of them are in jail because operatives planted evidence in their
belongings, are implicated by paid and expert witnesses, arrested by virtue of
defective warrants, and were targeted because of their affiliation and vocal
criticisms,” he stated.

“Political
prisoners are not criminals, but individuals who stand for their political
beliefs and principles. They should not be in jail in the first place. State
repression has placed them behind bars, and it is the same forces that are
desperately working to further deny them of their basic rights and humanity. We
protest this forced dispersal and continuously call for the release of all
political prisoners, as well as the dismissal of trumped-up charges against
them,” Clamor ended.