“The arrest of the Tacloban 5 (us) through the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine National Police tanim ebidensya (planting of evidence) scheme is a manifestation that President Duterte’s administration and his cronies in the AFP in Eastern Visayas are trembling in fear because the legal activists, despite our young age and short experience just like what the AFP would say, did not fail to reach the grassroots.”
“The arrests of Cumpio and, before her, Krueger, the red-tagging of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and other press freedom groups and advocates, the continued attempts to shut down Rappler, ABS-CBN and the Philippine Daily Inquirer, are all part of this government’s efforts to silence the free exchange of ideas and coopt media into mouthing only what it allows.”
“We need to keep the fire burning especially now that Duterte has utilized the entire machinery of government against the people.”
For someone who lost a father and a mother, and whose husband has been detained, Jimmylisa admits there were times she wallowed in depression. She said her very name, taken from her parents, reminds her to be strong. “How could I not live up to their legacy?”
The RMP called on the Office of the Prosecutor to drop the case against Sr. Elenita Belardo so that “she can continue her advocacy of defending the people especially the marginalized sectors of our society.”
By DEE AYROSO
With or without the CPP-NPA, there are just reasons for the people to resist and build a strong movement against authoritarian regimes. And paranoid governments would always clamp down on critics and dissenters whether the opposition is religious, the wealthy, foreign-backed, or communist.
“The Duterte administration is attacking IBON because our research, education and advocacy work exposes Philippine economic realities that the government wants to conceal.”
By DANILO ARAO, RONALYN OLEA, JANESS ANN ELLAO, MARYA SALAMAT, ANNE MARXZE UMIL, JOHN AARON MACARAEG, ALYSSA MAE CLARIN, JUSTIN UMALI, CARLO MANALANSAN, JOMARI ALEJANDRO III HERRERA Bulatlat.com …
“The release of the majority of the people arrested during the raids essentially means that the charges against them are not true.”
“The narrative that there are guns and bombs in the said office, as what the government has peddled in the raids of offices in Negros, is preposterous and a barefaced lie meant to justify these patently arbitrary arrests and to silence social justice workers and activists.”