MANILA (UCAN): Filipino civil society groups have called on the government to release some 90 elderly prisoners who have been languishing in jails after being convicted of alleged political charges.
The groups made the call after the nation’s oldest political prisoner, the 85-year-old Gerardo dela Peña, walked out of the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, on June 30 thanks to executive clemency.
“He had been behind bars for more than 11 years for a trumped-up murder charge,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of rights group, Karapatan.
The group has been monitoring the case of dela Peña and some 800 other political prisoners incarcerated across the country. Most of the political prisoners are either rights activists or ordinary citizens, it said.
“Gerardo’s release was the result of a campaign by human rights organisations here and abroad. In recent months, various groups steadily stepped up the pressure to secure his release,” Palabay said on July 1.
According to Palabay, the release of dela Peña was delayed due to “bureaucratic rigmarole.”
She said, “The struggle continues for about 90 other elderly political prisoners like Gerardo who should likewise be released on just and humanitarian grounds.”
President Renato Reyes of progressive group, Bayan, welcomed dela Peña’s release saying it was “long overdue.”
Reyes said, “It’s not a triumph of justice insomuch as it is proof of the gross injustice prevailing in the Philippines. That an elderly farmer would be convicted in that way is an injustice. [The president] Marcos has made no pronouncement to free political prisoners. The political prisoners have increased under his regime,” Reyes said on July 1.
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Kapatid, an organisation supporting families and friends of political prisoners, thanked the government for facilitating dela Peña’s release, as well as the Commission on Human Rights and non-government organisations, which contributed to their cause.
“His release is a milestone for human rights campaigns, but also serves as a stark reminder of the obstacles that impede the release of political prisoners,” the group’s spokesperson, Fides Lim, said in a statement on July 1.
“Every additional minute behind bars is a gross injustice for an innocent man,” Lim added.
In the 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in the Philippines, the US Department of State pointed out that the country’s constitution states that “no person shall be detained solely by reason of his political beliefs or aspirations.” Yet the reported noted that data from the Bureau of Corrections in 2023 said that 124 persons are serving sentences as “political prisoners” in the country.
“But there was no clarity as to how this term was defined and applied,” the US report said.
The report added that the NGO Task Force Detainees of the Philippines noted that in most cases, authorities mixed political prisoners with general population inmates, except in the New Bilibid Prison where most political prisoners were held in maximum security facilities.
