Manila Today
In Metro Manila, various progressive groups held a protest to commemorate International Human Rights Day (IHRD), December 10.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan National Capital Region (BAYAN NCR) convened in front of the Philippine General Hospital in Manila before joining the rest of the protesters on the march to Liwasang Bonifacio and then to Mendiola.
According to Lorevie Caalaman of BAYAN NCR, the militaries have been deployed in various urban poor communities in Manila, Quezon City and CAMANAVA area (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela) and have been profiling leaders and members of groups under BAYAN NCR, while some have been “forced to surrender” and sign documents dissociating with their groups.
“Sunod-sunod ang pagdakip at pagkitil ngayong taon sa ilalim ng administrasyong Marcos Jr. na siyang lustay nang lustay sa kaban ng bayan, high na high sa pagpatay ng mga unyonista, magsasaka mga aktibista na nagtatanggol sa karapatang pantao. ” said Caalaman
[There is a continuous series of arrests and suppression this year under the administration of Marcos Jr., who extravagantly depletes the national treasury, heavily involved in the killing of unionists, farmers, and activists defending human rights]
Karapatan NCR shared they received reports that elements of the 11th Civil Military Operations, police and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) have been profiling leaders and members of activist groups, labor unions in Metro Manila since 2022.
“Sa bisa ng Executive Order No. 70, binibigyang basbas nito ang iba’t ibang instrumenoing pang-kontrainsurhensiya para sa lantarang pang-aabuso. Bukod sa walang habas na panrered-tag, sunod-sunod pa rin ang mga nagiging paghuli at pagsampa ng gawa-gawang kaso sa ilalim ng Anti-Terror Act,” said former political prisoner and Karapatan NCR spokesperson Reina Mae Nasino.
[With Executive Order No. 70 in effect, it pushed for various counterinsurgency efforts that enable blatant abuse. Aside from the unrestrained red-tagging, there continues to be a succession of arbitrary arrests and filing of fabricated cases under the Anti-Terror Act]
Free our unionists
BAYAN NCR produced standees of political prisoners Mark Ryan Cruz, Romina Astudillo, Jaymie Gregorio Jr., Joel Demate of Human Rights Day 7 (HRD7) and Bob Reyes of Sandigang Manggagawa ng Quezon City (SMQC).
They carried these along with the ‘High na High’ Marcos Jr. effigy created by UGATLahi Artists Collective and Sining ang Bala ng Kabataan (SABAK). Sectoral and community leaders pounced on the effigy during their short program in front of the Kartilya ng Katipunan monument.
Karapatan NCR lamented that four of the Human Rights Day 7, arrested on IHRD in 2020, remain in jail. They have spent three years imprisoned while courts hear the charges against them in Quezon City and Manila courts.
The other three, Manila Today Editor Lady Ann Salem, SMQC founding member Rodrigo Esparago, and labor unionist Dennise Velasco were released following the quashal of warrants against them by Mandaluyong and Quezon City Courts. The seven were arrested in simultaneous police pre-dawn raids on the strength of warrants from Quezon City Executive Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert, based on one police narrative that the seven were part of a gun running syndicate.
SMQC labor organizer Bob Reyes also remained in jail since his 2017 arrest in Quezon City. He just left a meeting with a workers’ organization when police nabbed him, took him in a van, and then detained him on illegal possession of firearms charges filed in Quezon City. Later, arson charges in Agusan del Sur, a place he never visited, were filed against him.
Cruz, Gregorio, Demate, and Reyes are currently detained in Metro Manila District Jail Annex 4 in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City while Astudillo is in the Quezon City Jail Female Dormitory in Camp Karingal.
Karapatan NCR also said that the political prisoners held a day-long fast to express their support for various calls, including the unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners as well as the resumption of peace talks between the Philippine government (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
