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MANILA – The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) reiterated on Saturday its call for the release of activist Amanda Echanis and more than 650 political prisoners, describing the government’s move as a “continuous campaign of repression” against progressives.
In a statement, the CPP said that the country’s progressive and “patriotic forces” continue to be subjected to persecution, surveillance and extrajudicial executions by the government.
“The objective of this campaign is to interrupt the work of mass organizations to prevent them from exposing the plight of the people and expressing their complaints and demands in the midst of the pandemic and disasters,” the statement read.
The communist group added that the country’s revolutionary forces and democratic sectors condemn the illegal detention of Echanis, daughter of the peace adviser of the National Democratic Front Randall Echanis, who was assassinated in August.
SEE: Daughter of murdered leader Anakpawis arrested for alleged illegal possession of firearms | TeleRadyo
Rights advocates have feared she suffered the same fate as detained activist Reina Mae Nasino, whose daughter died earlier this year after being separated from her mother.
Echanis is currently being held at Camp Crame after she was arrested Wednesday for illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
The militant group Anakpawis previously said that the arrest was illegal and that the evidence was planted. Several organizations and the minority bloc in the Senate, for their part, have also demanded his immediate release.
Philippine National Police Chief Debold Sinas had previously denied that the task force had placed weapons against Echanis.
“The planting they said is not true. How these new, high-caliber weapons are planted. It is difficult to plant now, it is their home,” he said.
Sinas also claimed that Echanis is part of the underground communist movement, but no one had come forward to testify directly against the jailed peasant leader.
Malacañang, for his part, had ordered the Department of Social Welfare and Development to protect the welfare of the one-month-old son of the arrested Amanda Echanis, daughter of the murdered peasant leader Randy Echanis.
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Communist Party of the Philippines, CPP, Amanda Echanis, arrest Amanda Echanis, Echanis, groups call for Echanis’ release
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