Human rights alliance KARAPATAN strongly condemned the latest wave of political persecution against activists, students, and ordinary citizens who joined the September 21 anti-corruption protests, following the announcement of filing of cases by the Philippine National Police–Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP–CIDG) against 97 individuals.
“Hundreds of protesters have already been arrested, tortured, and detained — and now, nearly a hundred more are being threatened with baseless charges — while not a single corrupt big politician has been held accountable. The Marcos Jr. government and its law enforcers prioritize suppressing dissent while continuing to protect plunderers,” said KARAPATAN Secretary General Cristina Palabay.
In a press briefing, CIDG Director Maj. Gen. Robert Alexander Morico announced that the 97 individuals were charged before the Department of Justice with violations of Articles 136, 139, and 142 of the Revised Penal Code, or conspiracy and proposal to commit rebellion or insurrection, sedition, and inciting to sedition.
“CIDG’s malicious labeling of protesters as ‘instigators, funders, and planners,’ along with its threat that ‘no one will be spared,’ is a desperate and futile attempt to absolve the police of any accountability for its use of indiscriminate force and violence,” Palabay said. “The PNP continues its worn-out attempts to justify its violent arrests, torture, and arbitrary detention of protesters during and after the September 21 rallies.”
At least 277 protesters were reportedly arrested during police dispersals on September 21. Two individuals were killed, including a minor and construction worker Eric Saber, who was fatally shot after police opened fire. Saber, a bystander, succumbed to his injuries two days later.
KARAPATAN likewise denounced what it described as the PNP’s “bullying tactics” against students and youth activists, “a cowardly attempt to silence young people demanding accountability amid widespread corruption, by issuing subpoenas against them.
“When people protest corruption, they are branded as seditionists or rabble-rousers. When public officials steal billions, they walk free,” Palabay said. “This twisted sense of justice exposes the Marcos Jr. government’s utter contempt for rights, truth, and accountability.”
Palabay emphasized that the public remains deeply dissatisfied with the lack of results from the government’s so-called investigations into corruption cases under the Marcos Jr. administration, cases that continue to bleed the nation dry.
“We reiterate our call for the immediate junking of all fabricated charges, the release of all those arbitrarily detained, and an independent investigation into reports of torture, police brutality, and killings during and after the September 21 protests,” Palabay said. #