College Editors Guild of the Philippines
Southern Tagalog Chapter
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PRESS RELEASE                                                     Reference:  John Anthony Villafranca 
December 3, 2007                                                                         Secretary General, CEGP-ST
 
Southern Tagalog campus journalists call for release of detained alumni
 
In commemoration of the International Day of Political Prisoners, campus journalists in Southern Tagalog highlighted their call for the release of their detained alumni, Axel Alejandro Pinpin and Pastor Berlin Guerrero. 
 
Members of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines-Southern Tagalog (CEGP-ST) passed a resolution during their Regional Congress in September calling for the release of Pinpin and the Tagaytay 5 and Pastor Guerrero.  The resolution was sponsored by two campus publications in Cavite and the UPLB Perspective, and passed by the seventeen member publications who attended the said Congress.   
 
Pinpin is an alumni of CEGP in Cavite when he was a member of the Philippine Christian University’s campus publication while Guerrero was one of the founders of the CEGP-ST regional chapter when he was still a campus journalist.
 
Representatives of the CEGP-ST joined relatives and supporters of Pinpin and the Tagaytay 5 in a protest action in front of Camp Vicente Lim in Canlubang, Laguna where the Tagaytay 5 are detained.
 
The Tagaytay 5 are peasant organizers who were abducted by members of the military last April 28, 2006 in Tagaytay, Cavite .  Until now, they are detained at the Camp Vicente Lim in Canlubang, Laguna.  Guerrero is a pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines .  He was abducted by members of the military while he and his family were boarding a tricycle after he celebrated mass in Biñan, Laguna.  He is currently detained in Trece Martires, Cavite .
 
John Anthony Villafranca, secretary general of CEGP-ST, said that the the state of human rights in the country is alarming.  “Among the victims of human rights violations in the country are political prisoners which has increased and has become a phenomenon similar to the Martial Law period.”
 
In Southern Tagalog, the number of political prisoners under the Arroyo administration (January 2001 to July 2007) is already 38.
 
Villafranca also condemned the violation of the rights of the Tagaytay 5 to be visited by family and friends.  "Political prisoners have the right to be treated humanely," he said. 
 
“Pinpin, Pastor Berlin , and all the other political prisoners are innocent individuals who are innocent civilians that have committed no crime.  They are merely exercising their legitimate rights to struggle for their democratic rights and welfare.  We campus journalists call for the release of all political prisoners.  The Arroyo government should also stop the criminalization of political offenses and should stop filing illegitimate cases against innocent civilians and members of progressive groups,” Villafranca said.###
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