The Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA), an organization of former political prisoners, condemned the death of another political prisoner in detention, the 11th under the regime of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Sonny Tambalque, a peasant organizer from Carranglan, Nueva Ecija died at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) on May 26, 2025 from primary tuberculosis. He was 65.
Tambalque, who was first arrested for his activism in 1994, was rearrested in 2006 and later convicted on a trumped-up case of kidnapping with homicide. He had endured 18 years of unjust imprisonment.
“The fact that Tambalque died of a highly preventable and curable disease like tuberculosis speaks volumes about the oppressiveness of conditions in prison,” said SELDA vice chairperson Danilo dela Fuente.
Tambalque was one of 106 elderly and 100 seriously ailing political prisoners whose release on humanitarian grounds SELDA has long been demanding. “A Department of Justice program to decongest prisons has so far failed to benefit ill, elderly and long-detained political prisoners like Tambalque,” said Dela Fuente.
Of the eleven political prisoners who have died in detention under the current regime, nine were senior citizens. The oldest to die was 75-year old Antonio Legaspi who was found dead of a heart attack in his cell at the San Jose del Monte Jail where he had been kept in solitary confinement and deprived of sunning, physical exercise and socialization.
Legaspi’s wife, 80-year old Rosita Taboy, is currently the second oldest political prisoner and is detained at the Bulacan Provincial Jail. She is diabetic and hypertensive, has difficulty walking and suffers from a painful breast lump.
“SELDA will continue to campaign vigorously for the release of all political prisoners, especially the sick and elderly,” stressed Dela Fuente. “They are unjustly imprisoned and do not deserve to stay a minute longer behind bars.”