In a grave perversion of ‘justice’, the Tagum Regional Court convicted 14 prominent activists and leaders of people’s movements of trumped-up charges of ‘child abuse’. Amongst the convicted are former Bayan Muna Party-list representative Satur Ocampo and ACT Teachers Party-list representative France Castro.
The court claimed that the activists kidnapped Lumad teachers and students while on a solidarity mission in Talaingod in 2018. These baseless accusations completely distort the reality. The Lumad communities of Talaingod have been facing heavy repression by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and many teachers and students feared for their lives. In response to the plight of the community, the activists came to support their evacuation. It was not the activists that endangered the Lumad teachers and students, it was the AFP.
The conviction appears to be a desperate attempt by the Philippine state to sabotage the democratic campaigns of the legal progressive forces in the upcoming Senatorial elections in 2025. The progressive Makabayan coalition recently announced plans to run in the elections to oppose the US-Marcos fascist regime with both Satur Ocampo and France Castro playing in important role as prominent activists and leaders of the legal national democratic movement.
The Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (FFPS) condemn the false conviction and cynical distortions of the facts by the Philippine state. It is important that we challenge this ‘conviction’ as it is a grave distortion of reality and of justice, and since solidarity and other human rights missions are important tools to stand with the Filipino people as they are facing fascist terror of the US-Marcos regime.
Hands off the activists!
Duterte, Marcos, Biden are guilty of war crimes!
Just and lasting peace in the Philippines!