MANILA – Civil Society groups and faith-based organizations held a protest action in front of the Department of Justice in Manila during the Nelson Mandela International Day on July 18, 2024 to demand the immediate release of ailing and elderly political prisoners across the country.
“It has become a policy to detain and arrest political prisoners on trumped-up charges, most are criminal charges and it’s non-bailable. As for the people who know political prisoners, they are known as servants in their communities, peasants, workers, and even church people,” the Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) said during the protest.
Karapatan said there are currently 754 political prisoners in the Philippines, 102 are suffering from various diseases, with serious conditions. Among the sick political prisoners are Ernesto Jude Rimando, Rosita Taboy, Marites Cosenas, and Miguela Peniero.
In June 2020, the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 was enacted under the Duterte administration and is now being weaponized against human rights defenders and activists.
According to SELDA, currently, there are at least 32 political prisoners who face fabricated cases under the ATA.
Journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and humanitarian worker Marielle Domequil were both arrested on Feb 7, 2020, and were charged with illegal possession of firearms and accused of terrorism financing, during the crackdown on activists. This was shortly after the former President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order No. 70 that ordered for increased military deployment in the provinces of Eastern Visayas, Negros, and Bicol.
Aldeem Yanez, a volunteer church worker of Iglesia Filipina Independiente, was arrested in April 2022 in Cagayan de Oro City and is facing trumped up illegal possession of firearms and of explosives charges.
“Despite the laws that are supposed to protect the people against illegal search, unjust arrest, and planting evidence, these violations continue because of the prevailing culture of impunity,” SELDA said. (RTS, JJE)
Text and photos by ZYSA MEI ELLORAN 
