Dear friends and colleagues,
Greetings of peace!
There has been a noticeable increase in the Marcos Jr. government’s weaponization of the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act against human rights defenders, political activists and other dissenters, signifying the rapidly shrinking civic space and grave deterioration of the human rights situation in the country.
Weeks after the Government of the Republic of the Philippines announced interest in pursuing talks regarding the peace process in a joint statement with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, on December 6, 2023, the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) issued Resolution No. 54 maintaining the “terrorist” status of the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (CPP-NPA-NDFP), even as the Marcos Jr. government and the NDFP had come out with a joint resolution dated November 28, 2023 declaring their intention to pursue peace talks. This ATC resolution neither builds confidence nor does it create a conducive atmosphere for talks and hampers efforts to achieve just and lasting peace for the country.
To date, more than a hundred activists have faced complaints or court charges based on these twin terror laws. The following are the latest cases:
- On December 6, 2024, NDFP consultant and former political prisoner Elizabeth Principe was designated a “terrorist individual” by the ATC through Resolution No. 53. Another NDFP consultant and former political prisoner, Concepcion “Concha” Araneta, was likewise designated a “terrorist individual” through ATC Resolution No. 52 dated October 25, 2023.
- On January 9, 2024, the investigating prosecutor of Cabanatuan City recommended the indictment of, among others, four activists for alleged violation of the ATA. They are Makabayan secretary general Nathaniel Santiago, Anakpawis campaign director Servillano “Jun” Luna Jr., ASCENT convenor and development worker Rosario Brenda Gonzales and Bulacan Ecumenical Forum volunteer lay worker Anasusa San Gabriel.
The fabricated ATA violation charge stems from their alleged participation in a supposed armed encounter between the New People’s Army and the 84th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in Barangay San Fernando, Laur, Nueva Ecija on October 8, 2023. The respondents submitted their counter-affidavits on May 3, 2024, vehemently belying the facts and allegations and detailing their whereabouts during the alleged incident.
- In a resolution dated February 24, 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the Philippines indicted two activists, Fritz Jay Labiano and Adrian Paul Tagle for violation of Section 8 (ii) of Republic Act No. 10168 otherwise known as the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012.
Fritz Jay Labiano is the coordinator of the Kabataan Partylist in Quezon province while Adrian Paul Tagle is the coordinator and spokesperson of Tanggol Quezon and a member of Karapatan-Southern Tagalog.
The indictment stems from Labiano and Tagle’s provision of Php 500.00 (US$ 8.77) and food items to environmental activist Miguela Peniero and indigenous peoples rights advocate Rowena Dasig who had been arrested on July 12, 2023 and detained at the Atimonan Municipal Police Station.
This sets a very dangerous precedent as it penalizes human rights defenders and humanitarian aid workers who provide material assistance to activists in police or military custody who have either been arbitrarily designated as “terrorists” or accused of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and/or the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012.
- On March 19, 2024, a police sergeant in Negros Occidental filed a trumped-up complaint against activists and development workers Clarissa Ramos, Felipe Levy Gelle Jr., Darryl Albañez and Federico Salvilla for alleged terrorist financing. Albañez was the former secretary general of Karapatan-Negros and the September 21 Movement, while Clarissa Ramos is the widow of Atty. Benjamin Ramos, a human rights lawyer brutally killed by suspected state agents in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental on November 6, 2018. In addition to being human rights defenders, the respondents are all current or active officers or members or had collaborated on development projects under the Paghida-et sa Kausawagan Development Group Inc. (PDG), a Negros-based institution focused on promoting sustainable agriculture programs. The respondents have been directed by the Department of Justice to submit their counter-affidavits on May 10, 2024.
- In an order dated May 2, 2024, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) ordered the Tacloban branches of PSBank and Metropolitan Bank to freeze the accounts of the Leyte Center for Development Inc. (LCDe) as well as the personal bank accounts of its executive director and members of its staff. LCDe is a 36-year old development NGO based in Palo, Leyte that has won numerous awards for assisting poor and marginalized communities in Eastern Visayas especially in disaster preparedness and response. Its funds are sourced from private corporations and at least seven countries, and it has partnered with 23 local government units in Samar and Leyte. According to the AMLC, its freeze order stems from alleged findings that LCDe executive director Jazmin Jerusalem and her staff had been providing funds to the CPP and NPA. The AMLC also claimed that Jerusalem and the LCDe staff had earlier been designated as “terrorists” although no public information is available attesting to such designation.
- On May 13, 2024, Cebu City Regional Trial Court Branch 74 issued warrants of arrest against 28 individuals who are current or previous members of the council, board or staff of the Community Empowerment and Resource Network (CERNET) and set bail at Php 200,000.00 each. Founded in 2001, CERNET is a Cebu-based development NGO that has consistently worked alongside grassroots organizations to alleviate poverty in marginalized communities in the Visayas. CERNET and the 28 individuals with current or previous connections to it are facing trumped-up terrorist financing charges solely on the testimony of a purported rebel returnee.
The case against CERNET follows the filing of terrorism financing charges against the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines and its Northern Mindanao office; the United Church of Christ of the Philippines HARAN ministry in Davao City and Brokenshire Integrated Health Ministries, Inc. (BIHMI) also based in Davao City and local church UCCP Fatima in Ubay, Bohol; Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women and many other NGOs in Mindanao; and journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and humanitarian worker Marielle Domequil.
On December 7, 2022, the Anti-Terrorism Council signed ATC Resolution No. 35 (2022) designating Ma. Natividad “Doc Naty” Castro as a “terrorist individual.” On January 25, 2023, the Anti-Money Laundering Council signed AMLC Resolution No. TF-63, freezing Dr. Castro’s property and funds. Dr. Castro, a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, has, for decades, been serving the most impoverished peasant and indigenous areas in the Caraga region as a community doctor.
On June 7, 2023, the Anti-Terrorism Council signed ATC Resolution No. 41 designating the following individuals—all activists of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) — as “terrorist individuals”: Sarah Abellon Alikes, Jennifer R. Awingan, Windel Bolinget, and Stephen Tauli. On June 30, 2023, the Anti-Money Laundering Council signed AMLC Resolution No. TF-63, freezing property and funds, including related accounts, of the CPA.
Criminal complaints for alleged violation of the ATA have been filed against the following human rights defenders in Southern Tagalog including United Methodist Church pastor Rev. Glofie Baluntong in Roxas, Mindoro Occidental, who has been assisting farmers and indigenous peoples in Mindoro, as well as victims and kin of victims of human rights violations; Hailey Pecayo, paralegal of Tanggol Batangan, who has been assisting victims and kin of victims of human rights violations, as well as political prisoners; Jasmin Rubia, secretary general of the Mothers and Children for the Protection of Human Rights and lay member of the UMC; Kenneth Rementilla, coordinator of Anakbayan Southern Tagalog and UP Los Banos student leader; and United Church of Christ of the Philippines pastor Rev. Edwin Egar, also a Karapatan-Southern Tagalog officer. All complaints against them have been dismissed.
We urgently appeal for your support and solidarity by:
- Writing letters and statements calling for:
a. the lifting of the terrorist status of the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army and National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the terrorist designations of NDFP consultants Concepcion “Concha” Araneta and Elizabeth Principe as well as other NDFP consultants similarly designated in the interest of building confidence and creating a conducive atmosphere for peace talks for the attainment of just and lasting peace for the Philippines;
b. the dismissal of the unjust ATA violation charges against Nathaniel Santiago, Servillano Luna Jr., Rosario Brenda Gonzales and Anasusa San Gabriel;
c. the reversal of the unjust and ridiculous indictment of Fritz Jay Labiano and Adrian Paul Tagle for violation of the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act;
d. the dismissal of the unfounded terrorism financing complaints against Clarissa Ramos, Felipe Levy Gelle Jr., Darryl Albañez and Federico Salvilla;
e. the lifting of the AMLC freeze order against the accounts of the Leyte Center for Development Inc. as well as the personal accounts of its executive director and staff;
f. the dismissal of the anti-terrorist financing charges and the lifting of the freeze orders on the accounts of CERNET and the members of its council, board and staff.
and to send the letters and statements to the following:
Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., President of the Republic of the Philippines
Fax: +632 742-1641 / 929-3968 / +632 87368621
Email: op@president.gov.ph, pcc@malacanang.gov.ph or send a message through http://president.gov.ph/contact-us/
Lucas Bersamin, Executive Secretary and Anti-Terrorism Council Chairperson
Email: op@president.gov.ph, pcc@malacanang.gov.ph or send a message through http://president.gov.ph/contact-us/
Eduardo Año, National Security Adviser
Email: publicaffairs@nsc.gov.ph
Jesus Crispin C. Remulla, Department of Justice of the Philippines Secretary
Fax: +632 521-1614 / +632 85262618
Email: communications@doj.gov.ph, osecmig@gmail.com
Richard Palpal-latoc, Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines Chairperson
Email: ocrpp@chr.gov.ph
- Issuing statements of solidarity for Elizabeth Principe, Concha Araneta, Nathaniel Santiago, Servillano Luna Jr., Rosario Brenda Gonzales, Anasusa San Gabriel, Fritz Jay Labiano, Adrian Paul Tagle, Clarissa Ramos, Felipe Levy Gelle Jr., Darryl Albañez, Federico Salvalla, Jazmin Jerusalem and the rest of the LCDe staff and the council, board and staff of CERNET as well as others who have been arbitrarily designated as terrorists or accused of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act and/or the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act, to be circulated to the public and media circles and calling for the:
a. Repeal of the “twin terror laws” RA 10168 or the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012 and RA 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, which have been increasingly weaponized to persecute human rights defenders, political activists and other dissenters, leading to an ever shrinking civic space;
b. Recall of Executive Order No. 70, creating a national task force (NTF) to end local communist armed conflict and institutionalizing the so-called whole of nation approach; and a stop to all activities emanating from this order, including the smear campaigns and judicial harassment of human rights activists;
c. Withdrawal of the Marcos Jr. government’s counter-insurgency program, which victimizes innocent and unarmed civilians, and human rights defenders; and
d. Adherence to and respect for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and all major Human Rights instruments to which it is a party and signatory.
Please send us a copy of your emails to the above-named officials and statements to our address below:
Karapatan Alliance Philippines
Email: publicinfo@karapatan.org
Website: www.karapatan.org
You may refer to the following links on the previous cases of human rights violations involving the use of counter-terror legislation: