THE 28 political prisoners who continue to languish at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City are calling on President Duterte to free them, reminding the President of his promise last year to jump-start peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
“More than a year has passed since Mr. Duterte’s ascension to the presidency. That is sufficient time for the Duterte administration to set itself apart from previous administrations, but, by and large, it has failed to do so. He has reneged on his promises to the people—promises that could have defined the kind of change and leadership he can offer. Such promises include the release of all political prisoners through a general and unconditional amnesty; engaging the NDFP in peace negotiations to genuinely address the root causes of armed conflict; the free distribution of land to farmers; ending the widespread practice of contractualization in labor; fighting corruption and prosecuting big-time plunderers, among others,” they said in a statement released on Monday.
“The Duterte administration has released a small number of political prisoners, compared to the 400 still languishing in jails, and has arrested more or less the same number of political prisoners, thereby negating this positive action. By his own admission, Duterte does not intend to keep his promise. Instead, he and the pro-US militarists and peace spoilers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police are using the political prisoners as bargaining chips in the negotiating table to force the NDFP’s hand in signing a bilateral cease-fire agreement without any commitment to the substantive agreements on socioeconomic, political and constitutional reforms,” the statement added.
“Apart from this, they have let loose the infamous war on drugs, which has spiraled into a war against the poor, an ‘all-out-war’ against the people, and its counterinsurgency program, dubbed as Oplan Kapayapaan. All these have been instruments of State repression. We condemn such schemes,” the political prisoners said.
“We, as political prisoners, continue to suffer grave injustice in many ways. We were arrested and detained on trumped-up, nonbailable criminal charges, such as murder, illegal possession of explosives, arson and the like. Thus, we have been painted as common criminals, in our exercise of legitimate political dissent. More arrests are coming as the Duterte regime resorts to authoritarianism and militarism. We suffer from long detention due to the slow grind of the justice system, resulting in the wrongful conviction of many political prisoners. Furthermore, prisons are congested and food and other services are insufficient. Our rights are severely restricted and violated. Every day, we witness the preferential treatment enjoyed by VIP prisoner-plunderers, like Janet Napoles. Duterte’s justification of solitary confinement in prisons, rights abuses and his tirades against human-rights workers are portent of worse things to come,” they said.
“The urgent release of political prisoners is a matter of justice and is in compliance with the GRP [Government of the Republic of the Philippines]-NDF agreement on the respect for human rights and international humanitarian law. Thus, we resolve to further advance our struggle for freedom and justice, as we stand with the Filipino people fighting for just and lasting peace,” they added.