CPA: Drop rebellion cases vs 7 NL activists

    BAGUIO CITY -- The militant Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance urged a stop to  arrest of activists due to “trumped up charges.”
     “We ask the Supreme Court to take swift action and look into these instances of wanton warrant issuances without due process. Moreover, we demand that those who are instrumental in these outright violations be held accountable.”
    The CPA said in a statement Jan. 30 that Jennifer “Jen” Awingan of the CPA’s Research Commission was arrested at her residence.  
    “Awingan and six other land rights, human rights and environmental defenders were named in Jan. 24 warrant of arrest issued by Abra Judge Corpus Alzate for a trumped-up charge of rebellion referring to an incident between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the New People’s Army on Oct. 27, 2022 in Barangay Gacab, Malibcong, Abra,” the statement said.
    The other six activists reportedly accused in the same case were CPA leaders and members Windel Bolinget, Lulu Gimenez, Steve Tauli, Sarah Abellon-Alikes and Ilocos development workers Niño Oconer and Florence Kang.
    The human rights defenders named in the said case are collectively referred to in our campaign for justice and due process of law as the Northern Luzon 7.  
    “All of them have been subjected by the Philippine government, especially through the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), to political vilification, surveillance and harassment prior to the filing of the rebellion case,” the CPA statement said.
    “Alikes and Bolinget faced trumped-up criminal charges that were dismissed due to the glaring lack of merit and evidence filed in courts since 2017. Tauli was a victim of abduction and torture in 2022.  The red tagging campaign against all of them by State security forces and their agents did not spare even their families.
    “We strongly assert that the rebellion and insurrection allegation is mired with inconsistencies, bereft of factual basis, and is generated despite non-observance of due process: from proper preliminary investigation to the issuance of a subpoena.
    “We have always stressed, and we reiterate that these unrelenting attacks on government critics, and human rights defenders by criminalization of activism, red-tagging and terrorist labeling of progressives is borne out of the government’s effort to stifle dissent.
    The CPA statement said “unconstitutional legal frameworks of the government’s anti-insurgency program, like the ATL, Duterte’s EO 70, are wielded against activists and human rights defenders with no regard to due process as in this case; such that state forces can easily target those they deem as enemies of the state even without proper and sufficient investigation. The distinction between legal, democratic civilians from armed rebels is no longer upheld.”
    The CPA urged charges against the NL7 be dropped and that Jen Awingan be released from detention, immediately.
    Awingan was released last week on bail.