Rody urged to release female political detainees

On the eve of International Women’s Day, female prisoners in the Taguig City Jail at Camp Bagong Diwa called on President Duterte to fulfill his promise to free all of them and order the resumption of peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF).

“As we celebrate this important day for women, we continue to call on our President – free all our sisters, free all political prisoners in the country,” the group said in a statement written in Filipino.

The statement was signed by prisoners Gemma Carag, Arlene Panea, Rhea Pareja, Presentacion Saluta and Maria Miradel Torres.

The group said the immediate release of all political prisoners is not only a personal promise of Duterte but also earlier agreed upon by the government and the NDF.

The group said the release of all political prisoners is also an obligation on the part of the government in compliance with the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law where the Philippines is among the signatory countries.

“We were arrested and detained under the regimes of Gloria Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III through trumpedup charges. Until now we are suffering in cramped jail cells, waiting for Duterte to fulfill his promise to free us along with all the other political prisoners in the country,” the group’s statement read.

“We also call on the Duterte administration to order the resumption of peace talks between the government and the NDF in order to advance the nationalistic and democratic endeavors of citizens, especially the women,” it added.

Meanwhile, members of human rights advocate groups Karapatan and Tanggol Bayi yesterday gathered in front of the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City to denounce the supposed harassment and filing of “trumpedup” charges against human rights defenders.

“Duterte has already jailed 145 human rights defenders, mostly from the ranks of peasants and indigenous communities. As of December 2017, there are 486 political prisoners in the country, 41 of whom are women,” Tanggol Bayi convenor Gerifel Cerillo said.

“Clearly, Duterte is using everything and everyone in his machinery to gag the voices of those who are asserting people’s rights and welfare,” she added.

Female relatives of political prisoners Marklen Maojo Maga, Dionisio Almonte, Edward Lanzanas, Rhea Pareja, Rex Villaflor and Jesus Abetria and of detained peace consultants of the NDF Rafael Baylosis, Ferdinand Castillo and Leopoldo Caloza also joined the protest rally.

Tanggol Bayi, an association of women human rights defenders, said aside from verbal assaults from Duterte himself, women human rights defenders also experience “criminalization and attacks on the ground.”

“We also remember Karapatan Negros coordinator Elisa Badayos, who was killed while on a fact-finding mission in Bayawan, Negros Oriental on Nov. 28, 2017. We are reminded that as fascist regimes breed intolerance against resistance and dissent, it is capable of truly heinous crimes,” Cerillo said.