ILOILO City – Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) – Panay welcomed the release of its secretary-general, veteran labor leader and human rights activist Elmer Forro on Dec. 7, after being incarcerated for more than eight months following his arrest on March 29 of this year on brought by the military and police.
Bayan-Panay branded the charges as “trumped-up.”
Judge Redentor Esperanza, temporarily assigned to the Regional Trial Court of Janiuay, Iloilo, issued the order granting bail after the prosecution finished presenting its evidence against Forro.
Under the rules, bail is granted in supposedly non-bailable offenses when the court finds that the evidence against the accused is not strong.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Army filed complaints against Forro, accusing him of being a New People’s Army (NPA) rebel who took part in an attack against government troops in Sitio Agilan, Barangya Panuran, Lambunao, Iloilo in April 2020 that left an army soldier dead.
“The PNP and AFP are notorious for bringing trumped-up charges against activists based on false testimony and planted evidence. The army’s claims are patently false, ridiculous, and nothing more than an attempt to suppress dissent and silence activists,” according to Bayan-Panay in a statement.
Around the time of the encounter in the hinterlands of Lambunao in which he was allegedly involved, Forro had just participated in a well-documented health mission in an urban poor community, added the group.
Forro appeared before the Justice Department to deny the accusations levied against him. Despite the absence of evidence linking him to the NPA or the armed encounter, the Justice Department indicted him on multiple charges of murder and attempted murder.
“Forro’s case is a prime example of the government’s policy of criminalizing the exercise of civil and political rights through the filing of trumped-up charges against known members of progressive groups ,” according to Bayan-Panay in a statement.
It added: “This state policy has resulted in the arrest and detention of many civic leaders and the indictment of veteran activists like Elisa Lubi, the 76-year-old chairperson of human rights group KARAPATAN, and Migrante’s Josephine Porquia, the 60-year-old widow of Bayan Muna coordinator Jory Porquia who was assassinated on April 30, 2020.”
It may be recalled that a day after the assassination of Jory Porquia, Forro himself was arrested along with 41 other individuals when they attempted to hold a caravan for the slain activist.
Bayan-Panay said b ecause of the widespread and systematic persecution of perceived dissidents, there are now hundreds of political prisoners languishing in Philippine jails, including human rights defenders, peasant leaders, community workers, environmental and land defenders, and indigenous peoples.
Just this September, community worker Lenilyn Jaynos was arrested by the police on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives that activists claim were trumped-up.
Jaynos is now among dozens of political prisoners held in detention in Panay Island.
“The government must end its policy of persecuting and filing baseless cases against activists and progressive groups, and all political prisoners must be immediately freed,” stressed Bayan-Panay./PN
