Karapatan calls for the immediate release of five cultural activists arrested in Cavite on June 28, 2025.
The activists—Shenice Wacan, Ronaldo Valderrama, Andrew Peña, Denn Martizano and Christine Quillosa—collectively called the Imus 5, were arrested in Pasong Buaya, Imus City as they were about to create protest art against the widespread land-use conversion and demolitions in Cavite province. They had not even begun when civil security elements from the local government unit accosted them and accused them of having been responsible for other protest art in the area. The security elements threatened to shoot the activists. The cultural workers were later transferred to the custody of the Philippine National Police in Barangay Malagasang in the same city, where they were charged with malicious mischief.
Two of the arrested cultural activists, Shenice Wacan and Ronaldo Valderrama, are members of the Cavite Collective Alliance for Social Change (CCLASIC), which expresses protest through poetry, dance, songs and visual art like painting. They both joined CCLASIC after their families became victims of violent demolitions. Valderrama is also the former vice chairperson of Anakbayan-Cavite.
“Protest art falls within the purview of freedom of expression,” said Karapatan deputy secretary general Atty. Maria Sol Taule. “Prior to the case of the Imus 5, it will be recalled that 14 activists were similarly charged for burning an effigy during the rallies against Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address in 2023,” said Taule. “These activists were charged with violating an environmental law, but the case clearly involves infringement of their right to freedom of expression.”
“These cases may seem minor,” said Taule, “but they are symptomatic of the government’s growing intolerance to dissent. This has no place in a society claiming to be democratic,” added Taule. “The Imus 5 must be released and the charges against them dropped.”