By Diego Morra
The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) has condemned the Philippine government for filing trumped-up charges against 10 senatorial candidates from the Makabayan Coalition, Bayan Muna partylist’s third nominee and key sectoral leaders, many of them APHR member-parliamentarians.
APHR said the police invoked the martial law Batas Pambansa 880, also known as the Public Assembly Act, in charging 13 individuals. These charges, the ASEAN lawmakers stressed, are part of a continuing pattern of harassment against political and social activists stemming from a peaceful rally held on Nov. 30, 2024, the birthday of Filipino revolutionary Andres Bonifacio. This is the second wave of charges following the initial arrests of Bayan Muna organizer Nilo Montifero and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) chairperson Elmer Labog.
Those charged belatedly include Act Teachers Rep. France Castro and Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Arlene Brosas, Makabayan president and former Rep. Liza Maza, as well as union leaders like Jerome Adonis of KMU and Mody Floranda of PISTON. The others are health sector leader Alyn Andamo, Ronnel Arambulo of the fisherfolk federation Pamalakaya, urban poor activist Mimi Doringo of Kadamay, Moro activist Amirah Lidasan of Sandugo, peasant leader Danilo Ramos of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and former Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdie Gaite.
The Jakarta-based APHR questioned the integrity of the charges filed against the Makabayan Coalition leaders. Charles Santiago, APHR co-chairperson and former member of the Malaysia Parliament, argued “the repeated practice by the Philippine National Police (PNP) of filing baseless, scattergun cases against rally participants—many of whom were peacefully exercising their rights to free speech and assembly—is a blatant violation of democratic principles.”
Rangsiman Rome, APHR board member and a member of Thailand’s Parliament, warned that “pressing charges “arbitrarily against progressive policymakers will create chilling effects on other critical voices in the country.” He added: “This pattern of filing fabricated charges under the outdated and oppressive BP 880 must be denounced. We reiterate that peaceful mobilizations to protest injustice is a right protected under international human rights law.”
Mercy Chriesty Barends, APHR co-chairperson and a member of Indonesia’s House of Representatives, insisted that “the Marcos-era Public Assembly Act should be repealed to ensure that the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression are fully protected.” She concluded that “APHR stands in solidarity with these leaders and their legal counsel, and we call on the international community to join us in demanding an immediate end to this persecution. The right to dissent, to peacefully assemble and to express opposition to the government is a fundamental human right, and it must be safeguarded at all costs.”
Lawmakers in the European Union (EU), the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) and the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) also slammed the harassment of Makabayan Coalition and the cavalier treatment of the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the Marcos Jr. administration, which has vowed to pursue a different tack in the anti-drug campaign but has segued into using vigilantes to eliminate more low-level drug pushers, as reported by Vera Files. By harassing activists and rivals of his bets in the senatorial race in May 2025, Marcos Jr. is merely parroting the anti-human rights policy of Rodrigo Duterte. “A day without human rights is like a day without sunshine,” American activists said. In the Philippines, each day is stormy and sunshine is a luxury.
Rather than filing criminal charges against Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio for wasting P612.5 million from her illegal Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIF) for “rewards” to fictitious characters and creatures surnamed Piattos, Nova, Tempura and others, the payment of hundreds of millions of pesos for 13 satellite offices and three extension offices as confirmed by officials of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), the falsification of documents to make it appear that Sara spent P12.5-million for youth leadership summits bankrolled by the Philippine Army (PA) and local government units (LGUs), the production of the copycat picture book “authored” by her for which taxpayer money was used, and the scandalous funding of nearly 1-million “urban poor” in Metro Manila to serve as political base for her 2028 presidential run, Marcos Jr. rejects any move to hold Sara accountable and criminally liable. What all this amounts to is emboldening the lawless and throwing the Constitution that Marcos Jr. vowed to defend down the sewers. Call it the rule of loo. #
