MANILA (UCAN): Rights activists and environmentalists have expressed dismay when two Filipino activists, Fritz Jay Labiano and Adrian Paul Tagle, were charged with allegedly violating the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012, calling it an example of muzzling dissent and crackdown on rights-based activism in the country.
Labiano is the coordinator of the rights group Kabataan Partylist in Quezon province, and Tagle is the coordinator of Tanggol Quezon, an advocacy group. If convicted, they face life imprisonment.
The government made the charges public on April 8, but the exact date when they were charged was not revealed.
Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan, called the terror charges “ridiculous,” saying that it “is but the latest act by the state to criminalise human rights work and demonise activism.”
On April 28, Palabay said, “Both Tagle and Labiano have been providing paralegal services and other forms of humanitarian assistance to political prisoners.”
The accusation that offering necessities like water and food to detained activists constitutes terrorism financing is absurd and unjust
Charm Maranan
The charges against Tagle and Labiano stem from a complaint filed by the Philippine military after they were accused of giving 500 pesos [US$9], drinking water, and food items to two female political detainees —Rowena Dasig and Miguela Piniero.
Dasig, a community health worker, and Piniero, a youth volunteer, were arrested on 12 July 2023, and detained at the Atimonan Municipal Police Station in Quezon Province, in central Luzon.
They were detained after the military ‘red-tagged’ [labelled as communist or terrorist] them for allegedly being members of the New People’s Army [NPA], the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, designated a terrorist organisation by the government.
The military also claimed weapons, ammunition, and explosive devices were confiscated from them during the raid.
Piniero was alleged to be “the one who led the ambushes and killings of the military and Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit or a paramilitary auxiliary force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and former rebels who have returned to the government side.”
Palabay pointed out, “The accusation that offering necessities like water and food to detained activists constitutes terrorism financing is absurd and unjust,” while saying the charges “misuse the law to silence dissent.”
[it] is but the latest act by the state to criminalise human rights work and demonise activism Cristina Palabay
The Kabataan Partylist Quezon, in an April 27 statement, called out the Philippine government for misusing terror laws to target rights activists.
“These fabricated charges against youth activists and human rights advocates are clear manifestations of how dangerous red-tagging and terror-tagging against the youth are,” the group said.
The law is “weaponised to silence and instill fear among those who call for equality, justice, and peace,” it added.
The indictment of young activists “comes as a shock, as both individuals were unaware that complaints had been filed against them until a preliminary investigation resolution was released on April 8, recommending criminal charges,” said Charm Maranan, spokesperson for the rights group, Defend Southern Tagalog.
“Providing services to political prisoners is not a terrorist act nor is it criminal,” Maranan was quoted as saying by the online news site Bulatlat [wormhole] on April 27.
Department of Justice secretary, Jesus Crispin Remulla, said that the Anti-Terrorism Council “is cognisant of the concerns of some individuals, groups of persons, organisations, or associations, particularly trade unions and labour organisations, about being labelled as or linked to terrorists without having been designated as such by the ATC.”
Remulla insisted in an April 29 statement, “The ATC remains steadfast in exercising its exclusive authority to designate terrorists within the bounds of law and with full respect for human rights, including those of labourers or workers.”
Palabay said Labiano and Tagle are among the 91 activists and Catholic workers who have been charged with violating the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
