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Negros political detainees to hold another fast against rights violations

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Political prisoners in Negros are set to hold another 24-hour fast on Friday, April 19, to demand thorough and impartial investigations by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on reported human rights violations since July 2022.

The families and friends of political prisoners under the Negros Occidental chapter of Kapatid (Kapisanan para sa Pagpapalaya ng mga Detinidong Pulitikal sa Pilipinas) said the fast follows CHR’s revelation last March 9 its efforts to investigate the growing number of human rights and international humanitarian law violations in the island is being stymied by the lack of cooperation by various units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Negros.

“It has been 40 days since the said constitutional body made that damning admission yet, until now, the families of victims of these heinous crimes have not been given even the barest minimum attention they deserve from the government,” Kapatid said.

Kapatid added that the investigation should include a follow through on the disappearance of political prisoner Mary Joy Enyong’s daughter Lyngrace Marturillas reported abducted with three others somewhere in Negros’ Hinigaran Highway April 19 of last year.

“It should at least be able to explain why her companion Rogelio Posadas, a National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant, was surfaced dead by the 62nd IB as a casualty in a highly-suspect encounter they claimed to have had with the NPA (New People’s Army) the following day, while the fate of Marturillas and their two habal-habal (motorcycle for-hire) drivers Renald de los Santos and Denald Malen remain in limbo,” Kapatid said.

The political prisoners previously held similar fasts in March 2022, March 2023 and last December on various human rights issues in the island.

They said the rights violations are integral to the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government’s counter-insurgency drive in the island, adding that the island has seen a sharp rise in incidents that include last year’s June 14 massacre of the Fausto peasant family in Himamaylan City.

The political detainees also cited the September 21 massacre of five New People’s Army (NPA) hors d’ combat and their tricycle driver in Kabankalan City as well as the military’s February 21 aerial bombing operation in Escalante City allegedly in pursuit of armed guerillas.

Political prisoners in Negros island number no less than 128 as of April 1, or about 16% of the country’s current total, Kapatid said.

For peace

Kapatid-Negros Occidental also said the fasting of political prisoners is meant to support the growing call for the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government to effect the long-awaited resumption of the GRP-NDF formal peace negotiations.

The Marcos Jr. government, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Royal Norwegian Government, Third Party Facilitator to the peace process, made simultaneous announcements last year on their intention to resume negotiations. 

“The resumption of the GRP-NDF peace talks is necessary to once again bring to the national attention the necessary pro-people solutions to the fundamental problems plaguing our country, which continue to fuel the 55-year old armed rebellion of the CPP-NPA-NDFP,” Kapatid-Negros Occidental said.

The political prisoners are also calling on the Marcos Jr. government to immediately release from the National Penitentiary 75-year old NDFP peace consultant and former Negrense priest Frank Fernandez they said is suffering from various ailments and need immediate medical attention outside prison

“Fernandez, as well as other sick or elderly political prisoners like 84-year old Gerardo de la Peña (at the National Bilibid Prison), 70-year old Cleofe Lagtapon (at the National Correctional for Women), and 61-year old Corazon Javier (at the Canlaon City Jail), deserve to be released immediately on humanitarian grounds, if only to compensate – albeit partially – for their many years of unjust incarceration,” Kapatid added.

The group also revealed that two sick and elderly political prisoners have died in jail since Marcos Jr. became president. 

Marcos Villareal died last December 3 at the Camarines Sur Provincial Jail while 66-year year old Generoso Granado died at the National Bilibid Prison last March 8. 

Out of the more than 800 political detainees, at least 95 political detainees are sick while 75 are elderly, human rights groups said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Young political prisoner regains freedom ‘with a smile’

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Ge-Ann Perez, 24, was all smiles when she stepped out of a 4-year political imprisonment at the Female Dormitory of the Taguig City Jail in Camp Bagong Diwa last Friday night, June 30.

She was carrying all her jail-acquired possessions in two small shoulder bags, a small plastic box and a plastic bag containing what appears to be a basil plant that she must have taken care of in prison.

But getting out of jail was not as smooth for Ge-Ann. She was mistakenly given a dark red shirt to wear when she stepped out of the gate, a prohibited color if she is to be allowed exit through Camp Bagong Diwa’s many gates to her freedom. So she was asked to change into a stripped black and white before being handed her Certificate of Discharge by the jail guards.

Ge-Ann Perez (center, in striped shirt) holding her Certificate of Discharge with Kapatid well-wishers and a jail guard. [Kapatid photo]

Ge-Ann was just 20 when she was arrested together with National Democratic Front of the Philippines peace consultant Frank Fernandez and wife Cleofe Lagtapon on March 24, 2019 in Liliw, Laguna.

Ailing with Hansen’s disease, she was under medical treatment while staying with Fernandez and Lagtapon in the town’s famed cool springs and clean air. The elderly couple are themselves ailing with various grave lung and heart ailments and Ge-Ann was their caretaker.

When arrested, they were first taken to a hospital for a medical check-up and later taken back to the house where they were staying for photo documentation of their arrest. What greeted them were a cache of guns and explosives Ge-Ann said she knew nothing about.

Last Thursday, a Taguig court convicted Fernandez and Lagtapon of illegal possession of firearms while Ge-Ann was judged innocent, a victim of incidental arrest.

Perez (left) arriving at a court trial with Frank Fernandez (center) and Cleofe Lagtapon (right). [Kapatid photo]

Her mother Erlinda said in a 2020 video documentary that Ge-Ann suffered discrimination from her jail guards and fellow inmate because of her ailment. She was one of 22 petitioners in Kapatid’s April 2020 Supreme Court petition for the humanitarian releases of the medically vulnerable elderly and very sick prisoners.

The petition was remanded to the lower courts, effectively stonewalling its course. Ge-Ann had to suffer four long-years of trial to regain her freedom.

On Friday night, Ge-ann’s release was facilitated by her lawyer, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyer’s Jun Oliva. Also there were members of political prisoner support group Kapatid who just came out of a meeting with the jail warden. Kapatid said Ge-Ann was greeted by applause and not a few tears.

Perez with Kapatid well-wishers [Kapatid photo]

According to Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim, Ge-ann plans to go for her long-delayed checkup at the Philippine General Hospital before going back home to her family in Cebu. She will be assisted by the International Committee of the Red Cross in her travel back to Visayas.

Kapatid said Ge-Ann hopes to resume her studies and go to college to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a teacher. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Bishop renews call for release of elderly prisoner and son

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San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza appealed for pardon and parole for an elderly prisoner and her son who he describes as simple poor farmers from his diocese.

In a public petition, the prelate said 75-year old Moreta Alegre should be released due to her advanced age and physical ailments, including hypertensive cardiovascular disease.

Moreta and her son Selman had been in his heart for quite some time, the prelate said, adding that after 16 years in prison, both mother and son can be offered pardon and parole

He recalled that Moreta’s husband and Selman’s father Jesus who had been arrested with them has died in prison on June 13, 2021 of cardiac arrest. Jesus was 75 years old.

The Alegres are active members of San Carlos Diocese’s basic ecclesial community called Gagmay’ng Kristohanong Katilingban, the prelate said.

READ: 2nd oldest political prisoner dies in detention

Bishop Alminaza said the Alegres were displacement victims from their 15-hectare farmland by a landlord.

“They were convicted of killing the bodyguard of a local landlord, who subsequently claimed the land that had been tilled by the Alegre family. The Alegre family led a simple life, fishing and selling copra and tuba (native wine) as the produce of their toil,” Alminaza said.

“[T]heir efforts to secure papers that the land was theirs turned futile, once they were accused of murder. Jesus, Moreta, and Salem have maintained that they did not kill the landlord’s bodyguard; the landlord testified against them, but even the wife of the bodyguard did not persist in pursuing their prosecution,” he added.

The Bishop cited Pope Francis’s plea on January 19 that prisoners should never be deprived of hope.

“We risk being imprisoned in a justice that doesn’t allow one to easily get back up again and confuses redemption with punishment,” Alminaza quoted the Pontiff as saying last Wednesday in his regular public address at the Vatican.

Alminaza said he prays that that like others with more means, Moreta and Selman would be expediently granted release in the hope that the country’s justice system works and cares for the poor.

In June 2021, Alminaza has asked President Rodrigo Duterte and justice secretary Menardo Guevarra to grant clemency to both mother and son or for the review of their conviction.

READ: Bishop seeks clemency for mother-son political prisoners

“Moreta should be allowed to spend her remaining days loving her grandchildren and reconnecting with her children. This poor family has been separated for so long, as Jesus, Moreta, and Salem were detained in Manila jails while the rest of the family remained in Negros,” the prelate said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

River of Tears and Rage Full Trailer

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River of Tears and Rage is film culled from Kodao Productions’ Facebook Live coverage of Baby River’s wake and burial. Amid a raging coronavirus pandemic, a dead three month-old infant became a symbol of political repression by a regime denounced worldwide for its crimes against the people.

In partnership with human rights groups Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights and Kapatid – Families and Friends of Political Prisoners, Kodao Productions will premiere the documentary film on October 16, 2021, Saturday at four o’clock in the afternoon.

Prisoners’ support group asks poll body to extend voters’ registration

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A prisoners’ support group asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to extend the deadline to the ongoing voters’ registration to allow persons denied of liberty (PDL) to vote in next year’s national and local elections.

With just two weeks before the September 30 deadline, the group Kapatid said an extension shall allow prisoners’ to still “make a difference” through their votes

Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim said, “It is important for PDLs, especially those wrongly imprisoned for crimes they did not commit – the Philippines’ political prisoners – to register and have their votes counted in the 2022 elections.”

“Imprisonment does not disenfranchise them of their right to vote and to have a say in the outcome of the upcoming crucial presidential elections,” Lim explained.

Kapatid’s request is the latest in the growing clamor for the Comelec to extend the deadline after a series of recent pandemic lockdowns severely limited the number of registrations the poll body could accept.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez however said the election commissioners are firm in sticking to the deadline as a strict preparation schedule has already been set for next year’s polls.

But Lim said the big number of eligible voters among PDLs may run of time to register or reactivate their registration within the remaining two weeks.

She said their group received reports that voters’ registration forms were being distributed in some jails.

“But as prisons remain in continuing lockdown, the Comelec has to move the deadline of registration and also push voter education to draw in more detainees eligible to vote,” Lim said.

Kapatid said about 74% of the country’s over 200,000 PDLs are still qualified to vote as they are still under trial while an undetermined number of those convicted have their cases under appeal.

“There are over 148,000 votes out there in jail facilities, and count in the votes too of their eligible family members. If they can all cast their ballots in May 2022 and vote for ‘worthy’ candidates, along with their relatives, they can make a difference,” Lim said.

Lim, wife of political prisoner and National Democratic Front of the Philippines peace consultant Vicente Ladlad, said next year’s election is crucial as voters, including PDLs, can hold politicians responsible for illegal arrests and murder, accountable for their “crimes against humanity.”

“The elections in 2022 could be a make or break as our country’s fragile institutions take a beating as never before in the hands of a President who pretends to shun the onus of accountability and culpability for his manifold human rights violations,” Lim said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Groups describe as ‘prank’ Duterte’s amnesty offer to Leftists

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Political detainees as well as human rights groups and lawyers slammed as “prank” the Rodrigo Duterte government’s offer of amnesty to Leftist political prisoners, designed to prevent future peace negotiations from happening.

In a statement read in a recent online forum, six political prisoners condemned Proclamation 1093 offering amnesty to suspected and convicted Leftist rebels as an instrument of “continuing oppression.”

“Proclamation 1093 will not provide genuine amnesty. This cannot be the means for the release of political prisoners,” detained National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultants Vicente Ladlad, Rey Casambre, Ferdinand Castillo, Frank Fernandez, Reynante Gamara and Adelberto Silva said.

President Duterte signed last February 16 proclamations 1090, 1091, 1092 and 1093 granting amnesty to suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Mangagawa ng Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army/Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPMP-RPA-ABB) and “Communist Terrorist Group” members, respectively.

The House of Representatives concurred under its Concurrent Resolution No. 15 approved last May 19, but the Senate has yet to react to the edicts.

In a statement, Kapatid said that while political prisoners are not closing the door to a grant of amnesty, it is “…totally unjust that those foisted with false charges will own up to crimes they did not commit just to be able to leave prison.”

Kapatid said that for the political prisoners, Proclamation 1093 that refers to Leftist rebels is “fake” and a “trap” because:

1. Amnesty will be granted only to “rebels” who had surrendered or those referred to as “rebel returnees;”

2. It will not be granted to most political prisoners who were arrested, detained, charged with or convicted of trumped-up criminal charges since they did not surrender;

3. It will not cover those who have been proscribed and charged and convicted under the Human Security Act of 2007 and the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020;

4. It puts the burden on political prisoners to prove that the crimes they supposedly committed were in furtherance of their political beliefs; and

5. The applicant must admit, in writing and under oath, their guilt on charges they are criminally liable for although the charges are falsified.

Kapatid said the political prisoners also condemned the use of the term “communist terrorist group” to “disparage and degrade the political standing” of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People’s Army (NPA) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

The Duterte government has designated the three revolutionary organizations as terrorists in separate proclamations in 2017 and this year.

National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers president Edre Olalia said Proclamation 1093’s intention is suspect for its description of its supposed beneficiaries.

 “[T]he premise, framework, and implication of the use of the term ‘communist terrorist group’ render this kind of amnesty patently objectionable and unacceptable, legally and politically,” Olalia said.

“It is practically an institutionalized self-flagellation and it demeans political prisoners, using the dangle of inchoate freedom and the seduction of material bribery,” the human rights lawyer said.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate noted that the amnesty being offered to Leftists are unlike those offered to the MILF, MNLF and the RPMP-RPA-ABB that were outcomes of peace agreements.

“[W]e should remember that this regime ended the peace negotiations. The amnesty is in fact based on Executive Order No. 70 – the government order which ended peace negotiations, justified imprisonment of activists, and paved the way for killing human rights defenders,” the legislator noted.

“The government said that it will no longer engage with peace negotiations but they are saying now that localized peace negotiations were held for former rebels to be granted amnesty. This amnesty proclamation is a ploy to totally prevent peace talks from transpiring,” Zarate, also a human rights lawyer, added.

The six detained NDFP peace consultants said they insist on “general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty.”

“General amnesty means it covers all political prisoners and other political offenders according to a pre-screened list. Unconditional amnesty means no preconditions will be imposed on political prisoners before they are set free. Omnibus amnesty means it will cover all court cases of political prisoners,” the detainees said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Bishop seeks clemency for mother-son political prisoners

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A bishop asked for executive clemency for two political detainees, mother and son Morita and Selman Alegre, after the death of their patriarch and fellow prisoner of conscience Jesus who died last June 13.

In a public appeal, San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza asked President Rodrigo Duterte and justice secretary Menardo Guevarra to grant clemency to both mother and son or for the review of their conviction.

“As the shepherd of the Diocese of San Carlos, which counts the late Jesus Alegre and his family among its members, I appeal to President Rodrigo Duterte and Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to allow the widowed Morita and her son Selman to attend the wake and the June 30 funeral of their beloved Jesus, who had been separated from them by prison for the last 16 years,” the bishop also said.

READ: 2nd oldest political prisoner dies in detention

The prelate announced that the remains of Jesus would be flown to Bacolod city in accordance with his wife Morita’s wishes for a full body burial for him in their home town of Sagay City.

“Morita is now 74 years old, and she and her son Selman have earned, through more than 16 years of pain and suffering, the right to be set free and live their remaining years with their loved ones,” Alminaza said.

The bishop said he is convinced the Alegres were victims of injustice.

“Kapatid, a support organization of political prisoners in the country, has documented the Alegres’ case extensively and came up with the conclusion that the case against them was clearly false and fabricated,” he said.

“With his death, Jesus Alegre is now free at last from worldly greed, oppression and injustice. But his widow and son, both unjustly convicted and imprisoned for the last 16 years, continue to languish and suffer in separate jails,” he added.

READ: ‘MAGSASAKA, BUTIHING AMA’: Who was Jesus Alegre and why he did not deserve a single day in prison

Alminaza also appealed for the freedom of the many poor who are similarly situated as the Alegres.

“Land grabbing is an old and persistent problem in Negros where the wealthy and powerful families have used both private and government instrumentalities to defeat the poor’s rights over their small parcels of land,” he said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

‘MAGSASAKA, BUTIHING AMA’: Who was Jesus Alegre and why he did not deserve a single day in prison

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By KAPATID

Jesus Alegre, a 75-year-old political prisoner, his wife Morita, 74, and son Selman, 47, have been in prison for 16 years despite the fact they did not deserve even a single day behind bars. On Sunday, June 13, after months of increasing weakness and disorientation, Jesus could no longer sit up or stand by himself and died without even seeing a glimmer of freedom.

Who was Jesus Alegre and why should his story be known?

Named after the savior of the world and happiness, Jesus Alegre was a Filipino everyman born on December 22, 1945 who eked out a living from fishing and farming. Together with his family, he lived by the sea in barangay Taba-Ao in Sagay at the northern tip of Negros Occidental, a provincial cradle of centuries-old feudal oppression. He strived to make ends meet by fishing and by selling copra and coconut wine (tuba) produced from the coconut trees they planted.

Though he could barely read and write and his wife Morita is illiterate, they were able to raise seven children and send them to school with the income they earned from the sea and the earth. According to a 2015 report from Karapatan, the industrious couple was also of great help to anyone in their community who needed financial assistance.

Life for Alegre and his family in their coastal barangay seemed good. But it changed when a “landlord town official,” Avelino Gaspar, tried to grab the land they tilled and nurtured over a generation. Gaspar tried to get out a land title for 15 hectares that included the portion of 1.12 hectare, which the family of Alegre had improved and planted with 386 coconut trees. Gaspar wanted to acquire the entire area and lease it to a Japanese who was interested in turning it into a resort.

Committed to keeping what they have, the Alegre family filed a protest before the Bureau of Lands and the land dispute was taken up by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office. Because of such protest, Gaspar was barred from getting title for the applied land. This stoked his ire, especially when the Alegres refused the money that was offered in exchange for their small plot of farmland.

On September 8, 1994, according to Karapatan, hired goons assaulted the Alegres, killing their son Romeo. It was fortunate that the rest of the family was able to escape the attack. Despite the death of their son, the Alegres stood firm in keeping their land from which they derived their livelihood with dignity and peace.

The attacks against Alegre and his family intensified even after the killing. In 2001, hired goons fenced their land to drive them away and threatened them with death. According to the report, hired men shot at Alegre and his son Danilo when they approached them and tried to talk to them.

One day, a firefight ensued between the goons and some unidentified men. One of the goons, Rogelio Tipon, was killed. The killing of Tipon was blamed on the Alegres. Jesus, his wife Morita and son Selman were arrested on April 14, 2005 and charged falsely with murder. All three were convicted on April 1, 2009 and sentenced to reclusion perpetua for murder.

Morita is presently held at the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong while Selman is at the New Bilibid Prison Maximum Security Compound, the same facility of his father Jesus.

The main witnesses to the killing of Tipon were his wife Helena and Avelino Gaspar himself. Helena was the main complainant of the murder case. But as the Alegres were on trial, she executed an Affidavit of Desistance. Yet through the insistence of Gaspar, the three Alegres were still prosecuted and Helena’s affidavit was never formally filed, and the private complainant was turned into “People of the Philippines.”

Jesus’ story tells of how ordinary and poor Filipinos easily fall victim to the powerful and moneyed who even more easily get away with jailing and even killing the innocent to get what they want. Jesus Alegre was not an activist nor a member of any groups involved in peasant struggles. But his plight showcases the age-old feudal oppression in the island of Negros, and human rights groups took up his case to provide support and considered him and the rest of his family as political prisoners.

As relayed by the members of Karapatan and Kapatid who visited him in the past months and years, Jesus would consistently air only one wish: “Gusto kong makalaya. Kelan ako lalaya?” (I want to be freed. When will I be freed?)

Political detainee Jesus Alegre in obvious pain when he was first taken to the hospital in February 2021. Four months later, Alegre dies while in detention.

Inside jail, in one of the most extremely congested prison systems in the world where two inmates die every day and 5,200 every year, his health steadily deteriorated. In February this year, due to the efforts of Kapatid, the support group of families and friends of political prisoners, Jesus was brought to the Ospital ng Muntinlupa for check-up and laboratory tests. He was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, uncontrolled diabetes type 2, ischemic heart disease, and possible chronic kidney disease. Kapatid had to shoulder all his medical expenses.

Jesus’ wish was never granted by the government despite Kapatid’s repeated efforts to submit his name and of Morita to the Department of Justice at least four times from December 2019 to December 2020 so they could make it to the Christmas list of elderly prisoners to be considered for executive clemency.

Even in the midst of a health crisis where Jesus is considered at risk because of his medical condition, the calls made by Kapatid and other groups were disregarded. Jesus is the fifth political prisoner to die during the pandemic and his death brings to a greater yet unknown total number the death toll among persons deprived of liberty amid the continuing health emergency.

Kapatid presses for justice and freedom for 74-year-old Morita Alegre and their son Selman and to allow them to pay their last respects to a good husband and a good father whom Morita has not seen for 16 years. Is this too much ask of a government which has freed plunderers for proven crimes against the people? Isang sulyap lang. Just a glimpse of him who never had a glimmer of freedom. #

2nd oldest political prisoner dies in detention

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By Joseph Cuevas

The country’s second oldest political prisoner died at the Ospital ng Muntinlupa on Sunday, June 13.

Jesus Alegre, 75 years old, showed physical weakness and disorientation after suffering diarrhea and swollen limbs last June 11, political prisoner support group Kapatid said.

Alegre also vomited and could no longer sit or stand without support but was rushed to the said hospital only last Sunday, the group said.

It was unclear if Alegre was tested for the COVID-19 virus upon admission at the hospital.

Kapatid said that as early as February this year, Alegre’s health condition was deteriorating and he was in fact diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes, ischemic heart disease, and possible chronic kidney disease.

Alegre was a 16-year inmate at at the New Bilibid Prison’s Maximum Security Compound, along with 74 year-old wife Moreta and son Selman.

A family of poor farmers, the Alegres were wrongfully convicted on a trumped-up charge of murder in 2005, Kapatid said.

Kapatid said due to their advanced ages, the Alegres were among the political prisoners the group lobbied for release on humanitarian grounds.

The Alegres were also listed in Kapatid’s April 2020 petition urging the the Supreme Court to release prisoners vulnerable to COVID-19.

Last week, Kapatid also called on the Supreme Court to issue a Writ of Kalayaan to decongest jails amid the coronavirus pandemic, prioritizing elderly and sick political detainees.

Kapatid said that Alegre’s death shows the terrible state of the country’s highly congested prisons that expose prisoners to greater danger from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alegre was the third political prisoner to have died this year after peasant leader Joseph Canlas succumbed to Covid-19 and Maximo Redota suffered a stroke without receiving medical attention.

Kapatid demanded an investigation into Alegre’s death “to ascertain the responsibility and accountability of government agencies in looking after the health and safety of persons deprived of liberty.”

The oldest political detainee is 82-year old Gerardo dela Peña. #

Start inoculating prisoners, rights group presses gov’t

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A support group for political detainees pressed the government to start inoculating prisoners, citing the higher possibility of coronavirus outbreaks inside the country’s overcrowded and poorly-ventilated jail facilities.

“Kapatid presses the national government to release a clear schedule for the vaccination of all prisoners, including the 704 political prisoners, in the national deployment plan for COVID-19 vaccines because the congested prison system places them at significant higher risk for the disease,” Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim said.

The group Kapatid made the call after justice secretary Menardo Guevarra said that ordinary prisoners are not yet part of the priority list for the government’s vaccination activities against the increasingly contagious and deadly COVID-19.

Guevarra said that only elderly prisoners are eligible for early vaccination.

“[W]hile waiting for their turn to get vaccinated like the rest of the population, these [non-elderly] PDLs (persons deprived of liberty) will just have to follow minimum health protocols to reduce the risk of viral transmission,” Guevarra, Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Against COVID-19 member, said.

‘Mixed messaging’

Lim said Guevarra’s statement however contradicts an earlier assurance by the Department of Health (DOH) that “all persons deprived of liberty as determined by Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) are included under the Priority Eligible Group B-9.”

Kapatid asked DOH secretary and IATF Against COVID-19 chairperson Francisco Duque last March 2 to included all prisoners among the first to be vaccinated as part of the most “at-risk populations.”

DOH undersecretary and National Vaccine Operations Center chairperson Dr. Myrna Cabotaje told the rights group that prisoners are already identified for inclusion in the priority eligible population on the basis of stratifying the risks for contracting COVID-19 infection.

“So we quote to Secretary Guevarra the very words of the DOH in their reply to us: ‘Health is an absolute human right. No Filipino will be denied their right to get vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine. The national government assures you that every consenting Filipino will receive the appropriate COVID-19 vaccine, to protect the life and health of every citizen, including all Political Prisoners,’” she added

“Shouldn’t the DOJ and the whole national government be saying the same thing to everyone?” Lim asked.

Lim said it is ironic that the DOJ whose mandate includes the supervision of the BuCor should contradict the DOH statement and ignore the plight of over 215,000 prisoners compelled to live in subhuman conditions.

“This apparently may be yet another case of mismanagement from the top that results in mixed messaging,” Lim said.

 ‘Death traps’

Kapatid said extreme congestion inside the country’s prisons makes them “death traps” during the pandemic.

In November 2019, the BJMP reported that its 467 jails nationwide were at 534 percent of capacity as of March of that year while the BuCor said that the congestion rate in its 125 prisons was at 310 percent as of January 2019.

In October 2018, the Commission on Human Rights said “deplorable jail conditions” in the country are aggravated by the failure of the government, including police officers, to faithfully comply with even the minimum human rights standards and laws, such as the Anti-Torture Act (RA 9745). # (Raymund B. Villanueva)