Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) – Human rights alliance Karapatan challenged the Aquino administration to release incarcerated National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) “consultants,” along with other political prisoners they claim to be illegally arrested and falsely charged with criminal cases.
“Aquino and the military concoct unbelievable cases, come up with lying witnesses, and even invent evidence to keep NDFP consultants and its perceived enemies inside jails,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay in statement issued on Friday (June 26).
The group cited the multiple murder case against former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, Benito Tiamzon, Wilma Austria-Tiamzon, Randall Echanis, Vicente Ladlad, and Rafael Baylosis, among others, as victims of the government’s “professional witnesses and planted evidence.”
The group said that, out of the 17 imprisoned consultants, 11 were arrested during the Aquino administration.
Ocampo and several others were arrested in 2007 for their alleged involvement in a mass grave of at least 65 people thought to be members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
Exhumed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the mass grave in Inopacan, Leyte was said to be the result of a mass purging of NPA members suspected of leaking information to government forces during the 1980s.
Meanwhile, security forces arrested Benito and Wilma Tiamzon in March 2014 when the AFP identified the couple as the chairperson and secretary-general of the CPP-NPA, respectively.
Karapatan released its statement as a reply to Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. , who suggested that the Aquino government is open to resuming peace talks with communist groups which halted last April 2013.
Founded in 1995, Karapatan is an alliance of individuals, groups, and organizations “working for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines,” according to its website.
