KARAPATAN threw its support behind press freedom advocates, human rights defenders and progressive development workers in demanding justice for five activists illegally arrested in Tacloban in 2020.
KARAPATAN human rights worker Alexander Philip “Chakoy” Abinguna, community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, development worker Mariel Domequil, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan staff Mira Legion, and environmental activist Marissa Cabaljao were arbitrarily arrested in Tacloban City on February 7, 2020 and charged with trumped-up cases of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. Frenchie Mae and Mariel have also been charged with violating the law on terrorist financing. Mira and Marissa have posted bail, but five years after they were arrested, Chakoy, Frenchie Mae, and Mariel are still languishing in jail.
Their illegal arrest took place at the height of a crackdown on activists and right defenders after former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order (EO) 70, which led to the creation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) whose mandate is to profile, red-tag and persecute progressive organizations it has branded as “communist fronts.”
“Chakoy, Frenchie Mae, and Mariel have been unjustly detained for the last five years,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay, “yet the prosecution is still at the stage of presenting its evidence because their witnesses have been deliberately delaying the proceedings.”
“The undue delays are prolonging their detention and come on top of the fact that the so-called pieces of evidence against them have all been planted,” said Palabay. “Jail authorities have also been curtailing their right to receive visitors and the court hearing their case has refused to have diplomatic personnel observe the proceedings. This is one injustice after another.”
“Five years of unjust detention is too much,” averred Palabay. “The bogus charges against the Chakoy, Frenchie Mae, and Mariel must be dismissed. In the interest of justice and fairness, they must be released.”