Press Release
July 18, 2011

Karapatan to PNoy: FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
Political Prisoners to hold fasting before SONA

Karapatan Northern Mindanao, together with various church people, human rights advocates, sectoral representatives and relatives of political prisoners in the region, gathered in Misamis Oriental Provincial Jail and Rehabilitation Center today, 1:00 – 5:00pm to signal the start of a week of fasting of political prisoners in a Solidarity Liturgy and Program to the political prisoners.
 

The group challenges PNoy that if he is indeed sincere in treading “the righteous path”, he should release all polictical prisoners through general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty. General means all political prisoners, while unconditional means no precondition is set before they are released. Meanwhile, omnibous means all charges or offenses should be dropped.
 

To date, there are 342 political prisoners, 17 of them are in detention centers in Northern Mindanao. Majority were detained during Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s reign as part of her regime’s Oplan Bantay Laya counter-insurgency campaign aimed at repressing all forms of opposition against her government.
 

Of the 17 detainees in the region, 3 are NDFP consultants namely Alfredo Mapano, Pedro Codaste and Maria Luisa Purcray, all arrested in violation to the Joint Agreement for the Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). During the resumption of the formal negotiations between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), the GPH panel committed in the Oslo Joint Statement dated February 21, 2011, to release all, if not majority of the 17 NDFP Consultants, incuding the three detained in the region, as a confidence-building measure and show of sincerity to the on-going peace talks.
 

Yet a year has passed since Pnoy’s government and no action has yet been taken for the political detainees. Karapatan NMR believes that the presence of political prisoners in the country, who are charged with trumped-up charges and common crimes, shows that political persecution continues up until PNoy’s time. They are charged with fabricated criminal offenses or common crimes to conveniently hide the political nature of their cases and cover-up the systematic political repression against people in pursuit of their political beliefs.
 

The group further believes that the arrest and incarceration of political detainees are meant to silence, harass and repress legitimate dissent and opposition against a government whose policies have been detrimental to the people’s democratic rights and interests.
 

Karapatan NMR lastly states that if he is indeed sincere in his pledge to uphold human rights, Pnoy should release the political prisoners before his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) this July 25. He has already proved that he has the power to do so when he released the military men who rebeled against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and absolved them of any accountability for their involvement in Manila Pen siege, Oakwood Mutiny through Amnesty Proclamation 50. It should not be difficult for him to release the 354 other poltical prisoners who continue to languish in jail for unjust reasons.
 

The various organizations who joined the Solidarity Liturgy and Program are Karapan NMR, Union of People’s Lawyers in Mindanao, Promotion of Church People’s Response, KASIMBAYAN, Hustisya (relatives and victims of human rights violations), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan NMR, Kabataan Partylist, Anakbayan, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Kalumbay, and other sectoral organizations. Friends and relatives of political prisoners also joined the activity.
 

Reference:
c/o Kristin Lim, 09158546834
 

NDFP Consultant Alfredo Mapano speaks before various organizations who joined the Solidarity Progra

Chona Mapano, wife of NDFP Consultant Alfredo Mapano represented the family of PPs and thanked the support groups