“True equality cannot exist where people are imprisoned for their political beliefs and advocacy.”
MANILA – Beyond mere celebration, Pride means continuing assertion.
Human rights defenders and queer activists staged a picket in front of the Department of Justice (DOJ) on June 18 to call for the freedom of LGBTQIA+ political prisoners, including Verdy Pongasi and Alexa Pacalda.
“Activists, organizers, and human rights defenders continue to face demonization whenever we call for proper conditions in the facilities, schools, and farming lands. At worst, LGBTQIA+ activists are imprisoned or killed for fighting for human rights,” said Yell Teresa, national spokesperson of gender rights group Bahaghari.
Before her arrest and detention, Pacalda worked with the Quezon chapter of human rights group Karapatan where she helped document human rights violations and supported peasant communities. She was also active in Gabriela Youth and the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP).
She was arrested on September 4, 2019 for illegal possession of firearms and explosives. Her colleagues stressed that the charges were recycled by government agents against activists and human rights defenders to disrupt their work. She is currently detained at the Correctional Institute for Women (CIW), convicted of the abovementioned charges.
The same charges were used against Pongasi, who was arrested on October 3, 2020. She was a convenor of Kabataan Para sa Karapatan-Negros. She is detained at the Negros Occidental District Jail in Bago City, Negros Occidental.
“The call to free all political prisoners, with detained LGBTQ+ activists Verdy Pongasi and Alexa Pacalda among them, is in solidarity with those whose fundamental rights are violated under a system that criminalizes dissent and perpetuates impunity,” Karapatan Secretary-General Cristina Palabay said.
Both groups called for justice for the slain LGBTQIA+ activists, among them trans activist Kai Sorem, land rights activist Maureen Santuyo and community journalist RJ Ledesma. The three were killed by the Philippine military in Toboso, Negros Occidental on April 19.
Read: What were civilians doing in Toboso, Negros Occidental
Karapatan also cited the killings of queer human rights activists Ryan Hubila and Ali Macalintal, as well as indigenous rights defenders Julie Catamin, Chad Booc, and Leni Rivas. The group also mentioned New People’s Army fighter Kalikasa Peralta who was rendered hors de combat when she was killed in 2024.
“True equality cannot exist where people are imprisoned for their political beliefs and advocacy. Pride demands not only recognition, but, more importantly, justice, accountability, and freedom from fear and persecution,” Palabay said, stressing that LGBTQIA+ Filipinos suffer various forms of discrimination and vulnerability to extrajudicial killings, militarization, political persecution, and shrinking democratic spaces.
Bahaghari and Karapatan deplored the continuing role of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in vilifying individuals and organizations engaged in legitimate advocacy and community work.
The Supreme Court (SC) already ruled that such labeling directly threatens the inherent right to life, liberty, and security of targeted persons and organizations.
“The Marcos Jr. administration has retained the NTF-ELCAC as a centerpiece of its counterinsurgency program, enabling the continuation of attacks against activists, community organizers, and rights defenders with even greater intensity,” Palabay said.
The vulnerability of the LGBTQIA+ community to red-tagging compelled the Mujet LGBT+ Organization to publish a 2025 community legal guidebook which observed the challenges made worse by red-tagging as it subjects the sources to harassment, surveillance, and even as a precursor to various charges.
The groups urged Marcos Jr. to certify as urgent the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sexual Characteristics (SOGESC) Equality Bill.
It has been more than 25 years since the earliest version of the SOGIESC Equality Bill was introduced in Congress. Its passage is blocked by conservative religious groups lobbying against the anti-discrimination policy.
In the 20th Congress, nine versions of the SOGIESC Equality Bill were filed and remain pending with the Committee on Women and Gender Equality. (RTS, DAA)
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