Karapatan denounces the latest attempt by State forces to weaponize the draconian Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2022 against political activists and human rights defenders. On June 9, a subpoena was issued by Antipolo City Prosecutor Mari Elvira B. Herrera summoning youth activist Ken Rementilla and church worker Jasmin Rubia to face allegations of violating Section 12 of the ATA (providing material support to terrorists). The complaint was filed by Sgt. Jean Claude E. Bajaro of the 59th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA).
The military’s accusations stem from fact-finding missions in July 2022 led by Mothers and Children for the Protection of Human Rights (MCPHR), an alliance of church workers, women activists and human rights advocates, to look into the reported July 18 killing of 9-year-old Kyllene Casao in Taysan, Batangas by operating troops of the 59th IBPA. Among the mission’s members were Rubia, Rementilla and Tanggol Batangan paralegal Hayley Pecayo.
In its complaint, the 59th IBPA made the ridiculous accusation that Pecayo is a member of the NPA, and the FFM members who were with her were therefore providing material support to her alleged organization.
Participants in the fact-finding missions were severely harassed and threatened by the 59th IBPA. Thus, on August 1, 2022, the delegates in the FFM represented by Rementilla and Rubia filed a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). The ATA violation case is clearly being made in retaliation for the complaint filed at the CHR by the two.
The ATA case against Rementilla and Rubia is but the latest in a slew of ATA cases faced by several Southern Tagalog activists. Rementilla and Rubia are the 10th and 11th victims of the State’s “legal offensive” against political dissent in the region since the repressive law came into effect. Six out of the 11 victims are affiliated with Karapatan’s regional and provincial chapters in Southern Tagalog. The 59th IBPA is hellbent on preventing human rights workers and defenders from exposing and opposing grave human rights violation in the region.
Karapatan likewise condemns the arrest of Susan Medez, 59, chair of the Bgy. Buenavista-Bito-Cabagal Farmers’ Association (Babicafa). Medez, a resident of Sitio Bito, Barangay Buenavista, Himamaylan City was arrested on June 25, 2023 in Kabankalan City. She, along with several other members of various local farmers’ organizations in Himamaylan, is facing trumped-up charges of murder and frustrated murder in connection with an encounter between the NPA and the Philippine Army 62nd IBPA on May 12, 2018 in Sitio Bunsad, Barangay Buenavista.
Medez’s husband Rodrigo was illegally arrested with six others, including UCCP pastor Jimmy Tevez on June 25 and 26, 2019 in Barangay Buenavista, Himamaylan City. They face trumped-up charges of multiple counts of murder and frustrated murder in connection with an encounter between the military and the NPA in May 2019 in Barangay Tan-awan, Kabankalan City.
The increasing use of the terror law and other trumped up charges against activists is among the notable trends during the first year of the Marcos Jr. regime, as it implements draconian policies rolled out as laws during the Duterte administration and continues its campaign of political persecution of activists and political dissenters. As a result, at least 49 individuals have been arrested and detained under the Marcos Jr. administration out of the 778 political prisoners as of June 2023.
Karapatan calls on human rights organizations and advocates to strongly support the embattled activists, to actively campaign for the repeal of the terror law, and uphold human and people’s rights against the worsening climate of repression and impunity under the Marcos Jr. regime.