Human rights groups have condemned the arrest of three development workers in Negros, calling the terrorism financing charges against them baseless and a direct attack on grassroots initiatives.
Dharyl Albañez, Federico Salvilla, and Perla Pavillar, all from the Paghidaet sa Kauswagan Development Group (PDG) Inc., were arrested on Jan. 2, 2025, following charges filed by the country’s justice department in December 2024.
The Department of Justice alleges the workers, alongside two other PDG staff members, were involved in financing terrorist activities.
The arrests sparked sharp criticism from local and international groups, with the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Negros leading the outcry.
“This is blatant repression of a pro-peasant non-government organization by a landlord government, and this has become the continuing policy of the Marcos Jr. government,” said Peter Murphy, Chairperson of ICHRP. “These trumped-up charges must be withdrawn now.”
PDG, a development organization based in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental, advocates for sustainable agriculture, disaster relief, and the rights of small farmers and fisherfolk.
It has faced years of red-tagging and harassment. In 2018, its executive director, Atty. Benjamin Ramos Jr., was assassinated, and his widow, Clarissa Ramos, later faced similar terrorism-related charges in April 2024.
Before the arrests, PDG staff reported increased surveillance and harassment. Pavillar recalled being followed by a white van during a June relief mission and noticing motorcycles near her home in July, with neighbors questioned about her activities.
Witnesses supporting PDG staff also reported threats and coercion by authorities.
Fisherfolk leader Joselito Macapobre said military agents threatened him, while peasant leader Marvin Figuerora described repeated attempts by the military to pressure him into withdrawing his support for the accused.
BAYAN Negros condemned the arrests as part of an intensifying government crackdown on progressive organizations.
“These arrests are part of Marcos Jr.’s crackdown on development workers and activists who champion the rights of marginalized communities,” the group said in a statement.
BAYAN also criticized the use of coerced testimonies to implicate PDG workers.
“We condemn the use of dubious witnesses whose forced statements are being used to wrongfully link PDG staff to terrorism financing,” the group added.
ICHRP noted a pattern of harassment against NGOs and community groups under the Marcos Jr. administration.
Similar charges were filed against members of the Community Empowerment Resource Network (CERNET) in May 2024 and against staff from KADUAMI and the Ilocos Regional Ecumenical Council (IREC) later that year.
“This use of anti-terrorism financing laws against grassroots initiatives is part of the national counter-insurgency program driven by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC),” said Murphy.
“It is a blatant violation of International Humanitarian Law to fail to distinguish between civilians and armed combatants. The NTF-ELCAC must be abolished,” he added.
Both ICHRP and BAYAN called on the public and the international community to demand the immediate release of Albañez, Salvilla, and Pavillar and the dropping of all charges.
As Negros continues to recover from recent typhoons and the Mt. Kanlaon eruption, activists warned that the arrests threaten vital development work in the region’s most vulnerable communities.
“The blatantly phony accusations of terrorist financing are also an attack on the long-suffering peasant communities of Negros,” Murphy said.
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