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While celebrating HUMAN Rights Day around the world on Thursday, December 10, 2020, the police arrested a union organizer and an editor of the alternative press Manila Today.
Denisse Velasco, an organizer for Defend Jobs Philippines, was arrested in a raid on his home in Lagro, Quezon City around 2 am on Thursday.
Police said the raid, which was conducted on the basis of a search warrant for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, dropped the following: an MG7 fragmentation grenade, a 9mm Armscor caliber, a 9-caliber magazine. mm, nine live ammunition for the 9mm caliber, one 5.56 caliber, 20 pieces of live ammunition for the 5.56 caliber, one Remington 45 caliber pistol, two magazines for the 45 caliber, 15 live ammunition for the 45 caliber, 69 live ammunition for the 45 caliber, a 22 caliber Astra, a 22 Bernadili caliber, two 22 caliber magazines and 144 pieces of 22 caliber ammunition.
Seven hours later, around nine in the morning, Lady Ann Salem was also arrested at her home in the city of Mandaluyong.
Salem, who is also a communications officer for the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT), was later found in the office of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
A statement from the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said police have not yet released details of the charges against Salem.
NUJP posted a photo showing Salem inside an unmarked vehicle. Photo was obtained by IAWRT.
In a statement, Defend Jobs Philippines claimed that the police planted the evidence against Velasco.
“This type of attack and harassment against trade unionists and labor rights defenders must stop. We cry badly because Velasco’s arrest was made on Human Rights Day,” he said in a statement.
The PNP spokesman, Brigadier General Ildebrandi Usana, said that there is always a presumption of regularity ”in police operations.
“The family can file their complaint if they have evidence. The PNP is open for this purpose, ”Usana said.
Left-wing organizations commemorated Human Rights Day on Thursday through a picket in Mendiola, Manila, where they denounced the alleged violations of human rights sponsored by the state and red-labeling of progressive personalities and organizations. (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo / SunStar Philippines)
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