Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura
Nov. 4, 2019
On October 31, 2019, at around 5PM, fifty-five individuals including minors were rounded-up by the Crime Investigation and Detection Group, Bacolod City Police Station and 3rd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army during the simultaneous raids of the offices of progressive organizations Gabriela, Bayan Muna, Kilusang Mayo Uno and the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) in Bacolod City in Negros Occidental. The following day, November 1, the office of NFSW in Escalante City was also raided and two individuals were arrested.
The arrested activists are now illegally detained at the Camp Alfredo Monteliban Sr./NOPPO, and at the Bacolod City Police Office. The minors were turned over for temporary custody to the local Department of Social Welfare and Development.
It is important to highlight that the raids and arrests were carried out using defective search warrants for violation of RA 10591 issued by Quezon City RTC Executive Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert. The joint operations were authorized by the Region 6 Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC) in compliance with Malacanang’s Memo Order No. 32, Oplan Kapanatagan, and Executive Order No. 70.
The police and military allege that those arrested were conducting combat and indoctrination training as firearms and explosives were allegedly found at the raided offices. Despite these preposterous claims, there are actual video footages uploaded on social media showing how the CIDG operatives planted the firearms and explosives in the said offices.
The public must know the actual facts — the raiding teams used defective search warrants and planted evidence. This modus of Gestapo-style raids and the planting of firearms and explosives to justify arrests are old tricks in the government’s playbook of political repression.
Those apprehended in the Negros raids and arrests are members of democratic and progressive mass organizations — they all unarmed civilians, several are minors. Among those arrested include the following individuals:
- John Milton ‘Butch’ Lozande, chairperson of the National Federation of Sugar Workers, former secretary-general of the Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) and former nominee of Anakpawis Partylist.
- Danny Tabura, paralegal staff of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW).
- Albert Dela Cerna of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas-Negros
- Anne Krueger, volunteer journalist of Paghimutad community media, a union organizer of the BPO Industry Employees Network (BIEN), and wife of BAYAN-Negros chairperson Mike Dela Concepcion.
- Romulo Bito-on of Makabayan-Negros and his wife Amaylin Bito-on.
- Noli Rosales of Kilusang Mayo Uno-Negros.
- Proceso Quiatzon of Karapatan-Negros.
- Activists Diego Malacad and Roberto Lachica
- NFSW members Imelda Sultan and Ma. Lindy Perucho
- Ten (10) cultural workers from rural-based theater groups Teatro Bungkal and Teatro Obrero.
- Twenty-one (21) workers of Ceres Bus Liner, KMU members.
- Eight (8) females
- Seven (7) minors
The ultimate objective of these latest human rights violations is to quell the growing public dissent in Negros and to send a chilling effect to the progressive people’s movement and Duterte’s critics.
Interestingly, the search warrants used in the Bacolod City raids were issued by a Quezon City court. This is reminiscent of the March 30 police-led SEMPO and Oplan Sauron operations in Negros that killed fourteen (14) individuals in the towns of Manjuyod, Sta. Catalina and Canlaon City wherein the search warrants were issued by a local court in Cebu City.
Recommended Actions:
We call on local and international human rights bodies, democratic institutions, civil libertarians, and concerned individuals to condemn the latest attacks against Filipino activists and to help exert pressure on the Duterte government to demand the immediate release of Bacolod City Negros activists.
We urgently call on all supporters of Defend Negros Network to lead solidarity actions and issue statements, send letters, emails, and/or fax messages demanding the release of the arrested activists and minors, and the dropping of the trumped-up criminal charges. You may also append the call to abolish Inter-Agency Committee on Legal Action as it proves to be another repressive apparatus aggravating our already deplorable human rights situation.
Send support statements and post on social media—either on your own timelines or addressed directly to authorities—also reinforce the demand to put an end to the state harassment of activists, land reform advocates, and defenders of human rights.
Let us reverberate these calls:
- Immediately release Bacolod City activists!
- PNP-CIDG-AFP joint operations, unjust and illegal!
- Stop planting evidences and the filing of trumped-up charges against civilians, activists!
- Junk Duterte’s EO 70 and Whole of Nation Approach!
- Lift Memo Order No. 32 in Negros, Samar, Bicol!
Kindly use the following hashtags: #ReleaseNegros57 #DefendNegros, #ActivismIsNotACrime, and #StopTheAttacks against rights defenders and activists.
You may also send your appeal/communications to:
Hon. Rodrigo Roa Duterte
President of the Republic
Malacañang Palace,
JP Laurel St., San Miguel
Manila Philippines
Voice: (+632) 564 1451 to 80, 784-4286
Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968
E-mail: Send message through https://op-proper.gov.ph/contact-us/
Hon. Cecilyn E. Burgos-Villavert
Executive Judge
Regional Trial Court Branch 89
Room 119, Quezon City Hall of Justice,
Mayaman St., Diliman, Quezon City
Phone: (02) 8924 3912
Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido
Deputy Director for Operations
Bacolod City Police Office
Magsaysay Avenue, Barangay Taculing,
6100, Bacolod, Negros Occidental
Phone: (034) 435 5001
Col. Romeo Balleros
Director
Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office
Aquarius Street, Barangay Estefania,
Camp Alfredo Montelibano Sr., Bacolod, 6100
Brig. Gen. Jose Napoleon Coronel
Officer-In-Charge
Crime Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)
Camp Rafael Crame, Quezon City
Email: goc.omd@cidg.pnp.gov.ph
Lt. Gen. Noel Clement
Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)
Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, EDSA, Quezon City
Phone: (02) 8911 6001
