Stop the crackdown vs. activists and stop killing farmers!
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Philppine Peasant Movement) demands the immediate release of peasant leader Ireneo Udarbe, KMP national council member and chairperson of KMP-Northern Mindanao Region and Lumad leader Datu Jomorito Goaynon, chairperson of Kalumbay Regional Lumad Organization.
The two were arrested on January 28, 2019 in Brgy. Patag, Cagayan de Oro City by joint elements of Philippine National Police (PNP) Region 10 and the 4th Infantry Batallion Military Intelligence Bureau based on a warrant issued by Judge Emmanuel Pasal of the Cagayan de Oro City RTC Branch 38.
They were charged with fabricated criminal charges of rebellion, illegal possesion of firearms and explosives and election gun ban.
They were initially reported as missing by their colleagues on January 28, 2019 and were surface and presented by the police on the next day as alleged ranking NPA members.
Prior to their arrest, the two activist leaders were harassed and redtagged by the AFP. The two are actually on bail after they were first arrested along with 11 other activists in General Santos City based on trumped-up criminal charges last July 2018.
The two activist leaders are spearheading peasant and indigenous people’s campaigns against militarization and human rights violation in Northern Mindanao region. Last May 2018, Udarbe joined farmers and Lumad organizations against the 8th and 88th IBPA.
They also joined the International Fact Finding Mission on the atrocities of Martial Law in Mindanao last April 2018.
Under the extended Martial Law in Mindanao and Oplan Kapayapaan, the Duterte regime’s state security forces are committing grave and blatant violations of the people’s socio-economic and cultural rights, civil and political rights, and the rights of persons in the midst of armed conflict in Northern Mindanao.
Blanket repression across Northern Mindanao target entire rural communities and zero-in on individuals affiliated with various people’s organizations.
Violations of rights of the people of Northern Mindanao, especially farmers and national minorities, are committed by state forces with the direct motive of silencing their struggle for land, ancestral domain and right to self-determination.
Military force and deployment in communities are clearly used to pursue the interests of corporate plantations and other forms of environmental plunder.
On January 30, 2019, combined elements of PNP-CIDG, AFP, and MisOR-NICA raided the office of Misamis Oriental Farmers Association (MOFA) in Villanueva town and arbitrarily arrested four adult and 3 minors (two are toddlers).
The arresting team arrived at around 6:30pm, planted explosives and firearms, and forcibly took the seven individuals who were staying at the office.
Among those taken were MOFA Chairperson Jerry Basahon, Gerald Basahon, Marivic Colita and her one-year old child, Mylene Colita and her two-year old relative, and a 16-year old minor identified only as Janine.
According to initial reports, AFP soldiers arrived at the MoFA office and starting searching the office premises and compound without a search warrant. When the MOFA members asserted that the search is illegal, the soldiers punched and kicked Jerry Basahon. The PNP-CIDG arrived with a search warrant and took the individuals. Jerry’s cousin Gerald Basahon was not included in the search warrant.
The police claimed that they arrested 4 NPA leaders based on two search warrants for violation of RA 10591 and RA 9516 or illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The police also claimed that they found a hand grenade, a land mine, a . 45 caliber pistol and documents at the MOFA office. MOFA leaders and members Jerry, Gerald, Marivic and Mylene were presented by the police as New People’s Army (NPA) leaders.
They were brought to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) detention center in Camp Evangelista, Patag, Cagayan de Oro City. All six activists arrested are still detained.
On February 7, 2019 in the morning, Norly Bernabe, chairperson of Katipunan ng mga Magsasaka sa Timog Katagalugan (KASAMA-TK) was illegally arrested and detained by the Philippine National Police in Taytay, Palawan.
Bernabe who is also the leader of Pinag-Isang Lakas ng Okupante Residente Manggagawa Magsasaka at Mangingisda or PLORMMM was brought to the Puerto Princesa City jail. He was charged with murder and implicated in the killing of a police officer last August 11, 2018 in San Vicente, Palawan.
Before his arrest, Norly was called twice for questioning by the Philippine Marines as he was being forced to surrender as a rebel returnee. In 2015, Norly survived an assassination attempt in Poblaction, Taytay in Palawan.
Norly is leading the farmers’ struggle to recover the 865 hectares Pujalte Estate and the 394 hectares being land grabbed by the Guevent Development Corporation in Palawan.
CALL FOR SUPPORT!
We urgently call for support.
Please issue statements, send letters, emails, and/or fax messages demanding to release Ireneo Udarbe, Jomorito Goaynon, Norly Bernabe and the MOFA 4. We demand the withdrawal of the trumped-up charges against them. You may also append the call to abolish the Inter-agency Committee for Legal Action (IACLA) as it proves to be another repressive apparatus aggravating the already-deplorable human rights situation in the Philippines.
You may also send donations to help in the campaign for their release.
Please send support statements and post on social media—either on your own timelines or addressed directly to authorities—also reinforce the demand to put an end to the state harassment of activists, land reform advocates, and defenders of human rights. Let us reverberate these calls: Release Ireneo Udarbe, Jomorito Goaynon, Norly Bernabe and the MOFA 4.
Kindly use the following hashtags:
#ActivismIsNotACrime
#StopTheAttacks
#StopKillingFarmers
You may send your communications to:
Rodrigo Duterte
President of the Republic
Malacañang Palace,
JP Laurel St., San Miguel
Manila Philippines
Voice: (+632) 564 1451 to 80, 784-4286
Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968
E-mail: Send message through https://op-proper.gov.ph/contact-us/
Dir. Gen. Oscar David Albayalde
Chief, Philippine National Police (PNP)
02 726-4361 loc. 3106; 0998-8698-888
Email: srd.do@pnp.gov.ph via Directorate for Operations
Gen. Benjamin Madrigal
Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)
Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, EDSA, Quezon City
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement of the
Philippines)
2-G Alley 27 Road 1, Project 6, Quezon City, Philippines
Temporary Telefax. No. 632-241-7900
Email: kilusangmagbubukid@gmail.com
