A public union organizer walked free from the Butuan City Jail after several of the cases against her by the police had been dismissed by various courts in Laguna, Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur provinces.
Antonieta “Tonet” Setias-Dizon has been granted temporary liberty last Wednesday after six years of detention, former Bayan Muna Rep. and long-time Confederation for the Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage) president Ferdinand Gaite said in a Facebook post on Monday.
“More than 17 cases were filed against her and she is now out on bail for the remaining 4 cases,” Gaite said.
Setias-Dizon was a former Courage deputy secretary general. She was a long-time manager of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration who helped organized the nationwide public sector unionism federation.
Arrested in her home in San Pedro, Laguna in September 2019, Setias-Dizon was initially charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives. Other charges such as murder had also been filed against her.
The police alleged Setias-Dizon replaced National Democratic Front of the Philippines peace consultant Adelberto Silva as secretary of the National Organizing Division of the Communist Party of the Philippines after the latter’s arrest in October 2018.
The police also alleged she was a top New Peoples Army leader
Prior to her arrest, Dizon complained of being tailed by military operatives, forcing her to temporarily seek sanctuary inside the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) offices in Pasig City last July 14, 2015.
It resulted in a 10-hour standoff between Dizon and her pursuers that only ended when lawyers and progressive lawmakers fetched her from the building.
READ: Police arrest red-baited public union organizer
She was also tailed in succession on July 6, 10 and 11 by a Toyota Innova vehicle that was later traced by an IBP official to one Norberto delos Reyes, of Room 83, Condo B, Camp Crame, general headquarters of the Philippine National Police.
In 2015, after facing severe harassment and surveillance by state forces, she, among other union leaders and union organizers won their writ of amparo petition with the Supreme Court. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
