Police arrest 7 as PH commemorates Human Rights Day

Manila, Philippines – A journalist and six trade unionists were arrested on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives in a series of police operations in the early hours of Thursday that led to the conviction of militant groups as the nation commemorated International Human Rights Day.

His associates had previously expressed concern that they were “kidnapped” by the police.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Marissa Bruno, public information officer of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), confirmed the arrests of journalist Lady Ann Salem and labor organizers Dennise Velasco, Joel Demate, Rodrigo Esparago, Mark Ryan Cruz, Romina Raiselle Astudillo, and Jaymie Gregorio.

The police missions were “in compliance with the directive of the Director [of] CIDG, (Major General of Police Joel Napoleon Coronel) to intensify police operations against loose firearms and criminal gangs, ”said Bruno.

Worry, outrage

The seven suspects will be charged with violation of the Law for the Comprehensive Regulation of Firearms and Ammunition (Law of the Republic No. 10591) and the Law of Illegal Possession of Explosives (RA 9516).

Their arrests have sparked concern and outrage over police operations immediately following the earlier arrest of other union leaders and activists.

On December 2, the peasant organizer Amanda Socorro Echanis was taken to the province of Cagayán and detained with her one-month-old son. Two days later, the police detained union leader José Bernardino, who they claimed to be a high-ranking member of the communist New Popular Army, in Pampanga province.

Velasco, a union organizer from Defend Jobs Philippines, was arrested at his home in Barangay Lagro, Quezon City, on what his group said were “false charges” of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

According to his partner, Diane Zapata, the police made them lie on the ground. Later he published “Help !!!” Raid at home now !!! “on social media, being updated with a two-minute video recording of CIDG agents conducting their search.

Zapata’s statements in the video suggest that weapons had been placed in his home.

The CIDG said it found an MG7 fragmentation grenade, an M16 and a magazine, a 9mm pistol, two magazines for 9mm rounds, 20 5.56mm rounds, a .45 caliber pistol, two magazines for caliber rounds. 45, 84 .45- caliber bullets, three .22 caliber pistols, two magazines for .22 caliber bullets, 144 .22 caliber bullets and “suspected subversion documents.”

Zapata said the police took Velasco away when they left.

‘Swab test’

When he asked where they were taking him, “They told me they had to take him [him] on a swab test, and then they let me, ”he said in another video on Facebook.

“I drove the entire stretch of Commonwealth (Avenue) looking at places where [they] I could possibly have brought it, ”he said. “I don’t know where it is now, it’s Human Rights Day.”

Later that day, Defend Jobs was able to locate Velasco at Camp Karingal, where he is currently being held.

The group said his arrest “follows the reported surveillance of our central office in Quezon City on the night of December 3.”

“We cry badly because Velasco’s arrest was made on time [for] Human Rights Day, ”the group said. “We attacked the plantation of … firearms and explosives [in] The possession of Velasco as evidence ”.

Salem and Esparago were arrested at their condominium in the city of Mandaluyong. Her arrest also raised suspicions from her associates in the media that she was kidnapped by authorities, while Esparago’s arrest, on the other hand, was not immediately reported. It was not clear from initial police updates how the two were related.

Only later in the day did his family and colleagues learn that Salem was in the custody of the CIDG.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines demanded his release, as they expressed outrage at his arrest on International Human Rights Day.

The People’s Alternative Media Network (Altermidya) said his “kidnapping … was further proof of the dangers of the administration’s vile red-labeling practice.”

‘Red labeling’

At a recent Senate hearing on red labeling, the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict linked “Manila Today,” the news site where Salem is an editor, with the communist movement.

The CIDG said its agents recovered four .45-caliber pistols, four grenades, four .45-caliber magazines and 29 .45-caliber rounds from the Salem home.

Astudillo, Cruz and Gregorio were arrested in a condominium in Quezon City. Police claimed to have recovered five grenades, three .45 caliber pistols, two .9 mm pistols, a .38 caliber revolver and several rounds of ammunition.

Demate was arrested at his home in Manila. A .45 caliber pistol, an M16 and a magazine, a grenade, 29 rounds of 5.56 mm ammunition and seven rounds of 45 caliber ammunition were recovered from him.

Judge Villavert

The arrest warrants for Velasco, Salem, and the others were all issued by Executive Judge Cecilyn E. Burgos-Villavert of Section 89 of the Regional Trial Court in Quezon City.

Last year, Villavert issued at least 58 arrest warrants for police raids on the homes and offices of various activists, leading to the arrest of more than 60 of them.

Defend Jobs said Velasco’s arrest followed a similar pattern in the arrests of the other activists.

Bayan Muna’s representative, Ferdinand Gaite, said his group condemned this “modus operandi of raiding the homes of activists, planting evidence and filing false charges.”

Human rights groups marched to Malacañang on International Human Rights Day and warned that President Rodrigo Duterte could increase his attacks on activists.

Duterte “appears to be preparing for a more brutal assault on people’s rights and to disagree with the passage of his terrorism law,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay, referring to the 2020 Anti-Terrorism Act enacted in July and currently being challenged by the Supreme Court. —WITH A REPORT FROM NESTOR CORRALES

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