Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

Vice President Sara Duterte admitted that she has reached a point where she is simply waiting for the current administration to have her jailed, adding that she is prepared for whatever may come.

Duterte made the remarks on the sidelines of the Office of the Vice President’s 90th anniversary event at Makati Shangri-La on Friday, where she also expressed her office’s support for upcoming anti-corruption protests.

When asked if she fears that this support might prompt the government to file charges against her, Duterte said she does not.

‘Honestly, to tell the truth, I’m just waiting for when they’ll put me in jail,’ she told reporters, speaking in a mix of Filipino and English, during a chance interview.

‘But apparently, up to now, they still can’t figure out a strategy to put me in jail, because they really have no evidence of any wrongdoing on my part,’ she added mostly in Filipino.

The Vice President also said she is not worried about Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla or any potential cases he might file against her – especially since his office has already begun reviewing complaints over the alleged misuse of confidential funds by her office and the Department of Education (DepEd) during her tenure.

‘I’m not afraid because I am already prepared for whatever might happen to me,’ Duterte said.

Sedition charges used to silence dissent

Duterte also claimed that sedition charges are being used by the government to intimidate critics, particularly after the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group filed a criminal complaint against Cavite Representative Francisco ‘Kiko’ Barzaga over violent incidents during the Sept. 21 anti-corruption protests.

According to Duterte, the government should be thick-skinned instead of being easily offended by criticisms or dissent.

‘Inciting to sedition is what they’re using as a threat, and what I want to say is that the administration shouldn’t be too thin-skinned, because dissent is an essential aspect of democracy and good governance, and you cannot suppress it,’ she said in Filipino.

‘Because it is the people’s right to speak their thoughts and feelings. Even if what they say isn’t in favor of the administration or government, it must still be respected,’ she added.

Duterte herself is facing sedition and grave threats charges before the Department of Justice after revealing in an online press conference last November 2024 that she asked someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife Liza, and his cousin, former Speaker Martin Romualdez, should she herself be killed.

Threats of arrest against administration critics are not new. During the time of Duterte’s father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, former senator and now Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima was arrested and detained for nearly six years on drug-related charges.

The charges against de Lima, a vocal critic of the elder Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, were eventually dismissed.

Her detention was widely condemned by human rights groups and seen as politically motivated.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman on Friday rejected former Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co’s recent statements implicating her in the P100 billion insertions in the 2025 national budget.

This came after Co, in a video statement released earlier in the day, finally broke his silence over the budget mess and the flood control controversy.

Co said everything started when Pangandaman called him to inform that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. allegedly wanted P100 billion worth of insertions in this year’s budget.

‘All appropriations ordered by the President are already in the National Expenditure Program. That is why it is called the President’s Budget. So we reject any insinuations about it,’ Pangandaman said at a briefing in Malacañang.

She also said, ‘The bicam is purely under the power of the legislature. We respect and strictly follow the budget process, and all our actions are aboveboard.’

She explained that the executive department crafts the national expenditure program (NEP) for six months. This will be followed by the submission of the NEP to the Congress and deliberations.

‘So ginawa rin ‘yan ng executive para ma-ekplika kung paano ginawa ang president’s budget at ang national expenditure program. Pagkatapos po nun magdideliberate na po sila. Wala na pong role ang Office of the President, ang Executive sa bicam ‘yun lang po maraming salamat po,’ said Pangandaman.

In his video statement, Co said Pangandaman had asked him to confirm the president’s order regarding the insertions with the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office Undersecretary Adrian Bersamin.

After confirmation, Co said he told then-House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez about this instruction.

‘I immediately called Usec. Adrian Bersamin and I asked if, during their meeting, there was really an instruction from the president to insert P100 billion. He said that was true,’ he continued.

‘Right after our conversation, I called up former Speaker Martin Romualdez, and I reported to him the instruction of the president to insert P100 billion worth of projects, and he (Romualdez) told me, ‘What the president wants, he gets,’ Co narrated.

About 59 percent of surveyed companies in the Philippines are at risk of falling into an artificial intelligence (AI) ‘infrastructure debt’ trap as they are not making the necessary power, network, staff retraining, and security investments.

This is according to the Cisco 2025 AI Readiness Index global study released at the Cisco Live tech conference here.

The research shows that only 41 percent of Philippine companies are rolling out such technology at the scale and speed needed to make real money out of AI deployment.

The figure is much lower than the 97 percent share of global ‘pacesetters’ that are allocating sufficient capital to unlock values from AI.

Only 13 percent of organizations globally are considered as ‘pacesetters.’

‘These pacesetters are four times more likely to move from pilots to production, and they are 40 percent more likely to actually see measurable – and measurable being the operative word – value from AI, compared to companies in APJC (Asia Pacific, Japan and China),’ Simon Miceli, managing director of Cisco’s cloud and AI infrastructure business, says in a press and analysts briefing.

‘This year’s report shows AI leaders architect differently-and the pacesetters prove it,’ Cisco Philippines managing director Zaza Soriano-Nicart says.

Such pacesetters build network-first foundations, prioritize infrastructure, optimize continuously and embed security from day one, Nicart notes. As a result, 97 percent of them are likely to deliver tangible and scalable value, she adds.

Buildout requirements

On the other hand, only 41 percent of Philippine companies are coping with the buildout requirements.

‘The 59 percent of Philippine companies without this level of architectural foresight risk accumulating ‘AI infrastructure debt’-the shortcuts and gaps that compound into bottlenecks that cripple innovation and competitiveness,’ Nicart stresses.

The warning signs are emerging across Philippine respondents: organizations are deploying AI agents faster than they can secure them; networks are rated optimal by only 20 percent; and power infrastructure is missing for 58 percent of requirements.

Such technical debt could compound into operational risk, security exposure, compliance challenges, and competitive disadvantage, Cisco flags.

Big workflow, little pipeline

Half of the Philippine organizations surveyed expect AI workloads to increase by more than 50 percent within three to five years, with 34 percent building new data center capacity in the next 12 months.

But power infrastructure for this energy-hungry segment takes 18 to 36 months to put up.

While 96 percent of global pacesetters have built dedicated infrastructure to optimize power consumption, only half of the Philippine companies are building AI capacity without the power infrastructure to run it.

Also, 81 percent of global pacesetters prioritize network infrastructure and rate their network as ‘optimal’ for AI workloads. Only 20 percent do so in the Philippines, according to the study.

Global pacesetters focus on continuous optimization after deployment and 72 percent of them have continuous monitoring with automated retraining-versus just 24 percent in the Philippines. This results in a massive gap in speed: 65 percent of global pacesetters can update models in under an hour with minimal downtime versus 43 percent in the Philippines.

Furthermore, pacesetters build security as infrastructure from day one. Globally, 84 percent of them have end-to-end encryption with continuous monitoring versus 45 percent in the Philippines.

This approach to security becomes even more critical with AI agents: 90 percent of Philippine organizations are deploying autonomous AI agents, yet only 33 percent can properly secure them. Globally, 96 percent of pacesetters are able to deploy, and 75 percent are able to secure.

Winning the AI game

Overall, pacesetters are seen winning the AI game not because they spend more, but because they had made architectural bets early-before workloads demanded them, before bottlenecks emerged and before security became urgent.

‘For pacesetters, AI isn’t a side project. They don’t have an AI strategy; they have a business strategy, and they are integrating AI into that business strategy directly. They have clear plans; they have clear governance models; and importantly, they have an investment profile that matches the ambition,’ says Ben Dawson, president of Cisco Asia Pacific, Japan, and Greater China.

Globally, 79 percent of the pacesetters category have made an adequate budget to invest in AI the way they need to support the business.

Power of data

‘They also recognize that security is not a bolt-on security but as a core part of the value proposition,’ Dawson says in a keynote speech during the conference.

‘To truly take advantage of AI, it’s about unlocking not just the power of AI, but it’s unlocking the power of the data we possess, and that data is really valuable to us. It has an opportunity to deliver real value and new opportunities, but it’s also valuable to others. Thinking about the governance, thinking about the policy, thinking about how you utilize your data and do it in a way that’s safe and secure, unlock the value, but not unlock your IP (internet protocol),’ Dawson says.

‘Pacers are also thinking about the infrastructure they need. They’re not focused on optimizing the infrastructure for the needs of today. They’re thinking about how they build for the needs of tomorrow,’ he underscores.

Now in its third year, the Cisco AI Readiness Index 2025 global study is based on a double-blind survey of 8,000 senior IT and business leaders responsible for AI strategy at organizations with over 500 employees across 30 markets and 26 industries.

Joshua Garcia and Ivana Alawi are set to join forces for the first time in the upcoming romance drama ‘Love Is Never Gone,’ which will also become the first Filipino TV series to be filmed in Morocco.

Dreamscape Entertainment announced the project on social media on Thursday, Nov. 13, revealing that the television series is slated for a 2026 release.

‘From the deserts of Morocco, we bring you another action-packed series. They’ll chase, fight, and hold on to a love that never fades. The wait is over. Joshua Garcia and Ivana Alawi join forces for their first-ever teleserye pairing. #LoveIsNeverGone – coming 2026,’ read the caption.

As of writing, the plot details and other cast members are still under wraps.

Garcia, who rose to prominence after joining ‘Pinoy Big Brother,’ has appeared in the films ‘Vince and Kath and James,’ ‘Love You to the Stars and Back,’ and ‘Block Z.’

His latest projects include the 2024 romantic drama ‘Un/Happy for You,’ the 2025 drama film ‘Meet, Greet and Bye,’ and the Filipino adaptation of the Korean drama ‘It’s Okay to Not Be Okay.’

Alawi, on the other hand, last appeared on primetime TV as Bubbles in FPJ’s ‘Batang Quiapo,’ a role she exited in 2024. She is also set to appear in the upcoming Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2025 entry ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll: Evil Origins.’

‘Love Is Never Gone’ marks Alawi’s full teleserye comeback after her 2022 drama ‘A Family Affair.’

Meanwhile, Regal Entertainment earlier debunked the claims that the filming of ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll: Evil Origins’ has been delayed because of Alawi.

Alawi also made headlines earlier this year after she got romantically linked with Bacolod Rep. Albee Benitez, who was accused of violence against women and children (VAWC) by his estranged wife, Dominique ‘Nikki’ Lopez-Benitez.

Juan Ponce Enrile, one of the country’s most enduring political figures of the 20th and 21st centuries, has died, leaving an indelible influence on the country’s politics bookended by the rise and fall of his mentor, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., and the ascension to Malacañang of the dictator’s son and namesake. He was 101.

‘It is with profound love and gratitude that my father, Juan Ponce Enrile, peacefully returned to his Creator on November 13, 2025, at 4:21 p.m., surrounded by our family in the comfort of our home,’ Enrile’s daughter, Katrina, said in a statement.

‘It was his heartfelt wish to take his final rest at home, with his family by his side. We were blessed to honor that wish and to be with him in those sacred final moments.’

Enrile’s family asked for privacy while they grieve and honor his memory.

Enrile is survived by his wife, Cristina Castañer, their two children, Jack and Katrina, eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Controversial legacy

President Marcos said Enrile, whom he fondly calls ‘Tito Johnny’ and whom others call ‘Manong Johnny,’ was ‘one of the most enduring and respected public servants our country has ever known.’

‘For over 50 years, Juan Ponce Enrile dedicated his life to serving the Filipino people, helping guide the country through some of its most challenging and defining moments,’ he said.

According to the President, Enrile, his presidential legal counsel, remained brilliant, sharp, and firm in the belief that law and governance must always serve the Filipino people until his final years. Enrile left behind a controversial political legacy-one that involved scheming and shifting allegiances for survival-that historians, political scientists, and the public alike will continue to dissect for years to come.

Sheer longevity gave him time to whitewash his dark side, from being the architect of the Marcosian martial law, to a leader who helped oust the dictatorship that he was partly responsible for, and eventually to the sharp-witted politician later in his career.

Having been one of the longest and oldest serving politicians in the Philippines, Enrile outlived many of his peers in politics, including ex-Presidents Marcos Sr., Diosdado Macapagal, Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos, and Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III.

He had lived long enough to be exonerated of all the plunder and graft charges in the alleged diversion of P178 million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in the P10-billion pork barrel scandal.

In handpicking Enrile to be among his closest aides, Marcos was seen making an extraordinary act of reconciliation with one of the central figures in the downfall of the Marcos family during the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution.

‘I will devote my time and knowledge for the republic and for BBM (Bongbong Marcos) because I want him to succeed,’ said Enrile, who was 98 when he was appointed to his last government post in 2022.

On Enrile’s 101st birthday on Feb. 14, the President called him a ‘statesman, a legal luminary and an exemplary public servant’ who not only witnessed history, but also actively shaped it.

Humble roots, key roles

‘In that time, he has amassed a wealth of wisdom and experience, which he generously shares. It is one that all presidents, including myself, have gladly partaken in,’ Marcos said.

Born on Feb. 14, 1924, in Gonzaga, Cagayan, Enrile rose from humble beginnings to become a lawyer, government officer, and key actor in pivotal moments in the nation’s history.

He graduated cum laude in 1949 with an Associate of Arts degree from the Ateneo de Manila University. He earned his law degree, cum laude, from the University of the Philippines in 1953, became a member of the Philippine Bar in 1954, ranking No. 11 in the bar exams.

He obtained his Master of Laws degree from Harvard University in 1955, taught law at the Far Eastern University, and joined his father’s law firm before taking responsibility over the personal legal affairs of then Senator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in 1964.

After Marcos Sr. was elected president in 1965, Enrile became his protégé and part of his inner circle. Enrile served as customs commissioner and interim finance secretary from 1968 to 1970.

He lost in the 1971 senatorial election and was appointed defense secretary by Marcos Sr. a year later. He took on the role of martial law administrator until he broke away from the dictator in February 1986.

Marcos Sr. imposed martial law with his Proclamation 1081, saying that he was prompted to declare it immediately after communist rebels allegedly ambushed Enrile on Sept. 22, 1972.

In several interviews leading to the 1986 uprising, Enrile admitted that the attack never took place. But in his 2012 memoir, he flip-flopped and accused his political opponents of spreading rumors that the ambush was staged.

The martial law period was among the darkest in the country’s history, marked by brutality and human rights violations and the deaths of more than 3,000 people. Congress was padlocked, the media was muffled, and the political rivals and opponents of Marcos Sr. were jailed, while 34,000 were tortured by the military and police.

By the end of the Marcos regime in 1986, an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion of ill-gotten wealth was believed plundered by the Marcoses during their two decades in Malacañang.

While in the Marcos Cabinet from 1978 to 1984, Enrile also served as an assemblyman in the Interim Batasang Pambansa.

Breakaway

Along with then Philippine Constabulary chief Fidel Ramos, Enrile broke with Marcos, turning against the dictatorship, playing a pivotal role in the Edsa Revolution that installed Corazon Aquino as president.

But tensions between Enrile, who continued as defense secretary, and Aquino surfaced early in her term, leading to his dismissal from the Cabinet in late 1986 after he was linked to a coup plot.

After leaving the Aquino Cabinet, Enrile was elected as a lawmaker. He served four terms in the Senate for a total of 23 years, one of the longest senatorial tenures in the Philippines.

During his first term in the Senate from 1987 to 1992, Enrile served as the lone minority.

He then served for one term as Cagayan 1st District representative from 1992 to 1995, before running again for the Senate, where he served for more than two decades.

Among the laws that he authored were Republic Act No. 8424, or the Comprehensive Tax Reform Act, which exempted overseas Filipino workers from paying income taxes in the Philippines on their income earned abroad.

He was Senate president during the 14th and 15th Congress, from November 2008 until he stepped down from the post in June 2013. He remained a senator and the minority leader until 2016.

Legislation

It was under Enrile’s leadership that the Senate passed vital pieces of legislation such as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (Carper Act), Anti Torture Act, Expanded Senior Citizens Act, Anti-Child Pornography Act, National Heritage Conservation Act, and Real Estate Investment Act.

As Senate president, Enrile presided over the impeachment court that tried and convicted then Chief Justice Renato Corona for failing to fully disclose his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth, becoming the first high official to be convicted and removed from office through impeachment.

Enrile had his own political and legal problems after being linked to mutinous soldiers, particularly members of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM), which was led by one of his top aides, Gregorio Honasan II, who later became a senator himself.

In February 1990, Enrile was charged with ‘rebellion complexed with murder’ for his alleged participation in the deadliest coup against Aquino in December 1989.

Another rebellion charge

He was allowed to post bail by the Supreme Court a week later. The court invalidated the rebellion charges against him in June of the same year.

In May 2001, Enrile was again charged with rebellion, in connection with an alleged coup plot against then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He was arrested for allegedly masterminding the violent siege of Malacañang on May 1 by demonstrators loyal to deposed President Joseph Estrada.

But only a few days after the arrest, the high tribunal ordered the police to release Enrile on a P100,000 bail. Government prosecutors opposed his bail on the grounds that rebellion was a capital offense, but the court ruled that the evidence against Enrile was hearsay.

Pork barrel scam

More than a decade later, in 2013, following the Inquirer’s exposure of the P10-billion pork barrel scam, investigations led to indictments of some lawmakers, including Enrile.

In June 2014, the Office of the Ombudsman filed separate criminal charges against Enrile and his fellow Senators Ramon ‘Bong’ Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada for plunder and multiple counts of graft in connection with the pork barrel scam. Weeks later, the Sandiganbayan ordered their arrest.

Enrile, along with his former chief of staff Gigi Reyes and alleged pork barrel scam mastermind, Janet Lim Napoles, allegedly pocketed more than P172 million in kickbacks from his PDAF from 2004 to 2010.

He was detained at the Philippine National Police General Hospital while Estrada and Revilla were held at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame.

Citing his advanced age and poor health, the Supreme Court granted bail to Enrile in August 2015.

He was acquitted of plunder but remained charged with 15 counts of graft. Enrile was last seen by the public on Oct. 24, 2025, when he briefly appeared via Zoom, looking frail on a hospital bed with a tube inserted in his nose as the Sandiganbayan ruling absolving him of the graft charge was read.

Social media presence

In recent months, Enrile was busy on social media, sending birthday greetings, sharing his favorite poems, and making political commentaries.

His posts gained traction when he defended the Marcos administration’s decision to surrender former President Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court through the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and criticized the bloody war on drugs.

The last time Enrile posted on his Facebook page, he was musing on the Sept. 21 anticorruption protests, comparing them to the French Revolution and executions by the guillotine.

Enrile had not only managed to physically survive but also resurrect his political career several times, enduring losses in the 1998 presidential election and the 2001 and 2019 senatorial races, only to return to the national stage as the legal adviser to the son of his mentor.

Stem cell -mand ‘saluyot’

Over the years, he would tell journalists the ‘secret’ to his long life – eating ‘saluyot,’ exercising regularly, and undergoing stem cell therapy. Medical anthropologist and former Inquirer columnist Gideon Lasco encapsulated Enrile’s over a century on earth: ‘The very fact that he is far more known for immortality than for impunity speaks of the redemptive value of longevity itself. In Philippine politics, to add to a much-used line from Harvey Dent: Either you die a hero, live long enough to see yourself become the villain, or live even longer and become a Juan Ponce Enrile.’

Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Friday pressed a local Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) official to explain how the Monterrazas de Cebu project managed to clear the agency’s regulations despite repeated warnings from stakeholders about the risks posed by the hillside development.

‘Who turned a blind eye in the DENR and DENR EMB (Environmental Management Bureau) to grant this Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC)?’ Hontiveros asked during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing.

‘As to who turned a blind eye, I cannot answer that,’ replied Victoria Abrera, director of the DENR-EMB Central Visayas.

Abrera noted, however, that the ECC for Monterrazas underwent the full Environmental Impact Assessment process, and that an independent body recommended its approval.

‘I cannot accept that you have no answer,’ Hontiveros said. ‘Given what happened-its scale and its intensity-by now you should be gathering some answers.’

Hontiveros also pointed out that several people had raised red flags regarding the structural design of The Rise at Monterrazas.

‘They warned that this would endanger the environment around the development and the community at the bottom of that mountain,’ she said.

‘So now, after the storms and after the floods, it’s coming out that there were not just one but several-even many-violations,’ she added.

Celebrity engineer Slater Young, one of Monterrazas’ developers, has previously defended the project, saying it underwent over 300 design revisions to ensure environmental safety and structural stability.

The real estate project, located on the slopes of Barangay Guadalupe and unveiled in 2023, has drawn criticism online for its possible impact on flooding and landslide risks as Cebu bore the brunt of Typhoon Tino.

Tino reportedly killed 214 people – 138 of them in Central Visayas, where Cebu province is located – according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council’s situational report on Friday.

Manny Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee have been busy with preparations for the arrival of their son Jimuel’s daughter, the couple’s first grandchild.

Days after attending the baby shower of Jimuel and his non-showbiz partner Carolina, Manny and Jinkee were then seen shopping for baby items in California in the United States.

In the photos shared on Jinkee’s Instagram page on Thursday, Nov. 13, she, the boxing legend and Jimuel were in a mall checking out strollers, car seats and baby outfits.

The celebrity mom captioned her post with ‘baby stroller with car seat’ along with a check emoji, apparently indicating that they have ticked the item off their to-buy list.

Jimuel and Carolina’s relationship was confirmed to the public in May after Jinkee shared photos of the couple holding each other’s hands.

The following July, the Pacquiao family met with Carolina’s family, fueling speculations of an engagement and a bundle of joy along the way.

The speculations were confirmed by Jinkee in October, revealing that Carolina’s due date is in November and that the child is a baby girl.

The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) is ‘carefully reviewing’ the statement of resigned Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co Friday, which implicated President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the infrastructure projects corruption scandal.

ICI Executive Director Brian Keith Hosaka said this in a message to reporters when asked to comment on Co’s allegation that Marcos ordered the insertion of at least P100 billion in projects in the 2025 General Appropriations Act.

On September 22, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said Marcos is open to submitting himself to the ICI for investigation.

Castro’s statement came following a report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), stating that Marcos allegedly received P20 million from tycoon Rodulfo Hilot Jr., owner of Zamboanga del Sur-based Rudhil Construction and Enterprises Inc., during his 2022 election campaign.

Marcos initiated the creation of the ICI in September in response to the public’s clamor amid the flood control anomalies scandal.

The agriculture sector in Oriental Mindoro sustained severe damage from three successive typhoons that battered the province from September to November, according to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO).

In its consolidated report furnished to the Inquirer, the PDRRMO said agricultural losses reached P1.496 billion during Typhoon Opong (international name: Bualoi) and P24.983 million during Super Typhoon Uwan (international name: Fung-wong). No agricultural damage was reported during Typhoon Tino.

‘Damage to infrastructure during Typhoon Opong is P169.500 million, and P940,000 during Typhoon Uwan. We also incurred damages to education infrastructures amounting to P2.038 million, and P1.114 million to the tourism sector,’ PDRRMO head Vinscent Gahol said in a message on Friday.

Gahol added that 15,997 houses were damaged during Opong, three houses during Tino, and 889 houses during Uwan.

The report also noted that 61,960 families (213,608 individuals) were affected by Opong; 2,962 families (10,917 individuals) during Tino; and 24,891 families (84,553 individuals) during Uwan.

The calamities struck as Oriental Mindoro prepares for its 75th Founding Anniversary on Nov. 15, amid national attention over alleged anomalies in sand dredging and flood control projects

Two former political prisoners and Indigenous Peoples rights defenders have filed a joint position paper against five Philippine National Police (PNP) officers before the Office of the Ombudsman for alleged illegal arrest, detention, and other criminal and administrative violations.

Former political prisoners Julieta Gomez and Niezel Velasco lodged the document on Friday, reinforcing the initial complaint they filed last August 11.

Gomez and Velasco named five PNP officers who allegedly committed violations of Articles 180 (false testimony against a defendant), 183 (false testimony in other cases and perjury in solemn affirmation), and 269 (unlawful arrest) of the Revised Penal Code; Section 38 of Republic Act No. 10591 (liability for planting evidence); and Section 4-A of Presidential Decree 1866 as amended by RA 9516.

In a statement released by Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas, the group said the two complainants were allegedly illegally arrested in a joint military and police operation in July 2021. They were acquitted on April 8 this year due to lack of evidence.

‘Our imprisonment is part of a broader system of repression against those who speak the truth, so we will continue to stand for justice and accountability,’ Gomez said in Filipino.

‘By filing these cases, we are asserting that it is the state-including its agents and institutions-that violates our rights and should be held accountable, not the people who are fighting back,’ Velasco said in Filipino.

Aside from Katribu, Indigenous Peoples and human rights organization Sandugo joined the two in a solidarity picket outside the Ombudsman’s office during the filing of the position paper.

‘The Marcos Jr. administration’s refusal to punish corrupt and abusive officials allows impunity to persist,’ the groups said.

‘Until those responsible for illegal arrests, red-tagging, and corruption are held accountable, there will be no true justice in this country. [President] Bongbong Marcos must be held accountable for presiding over a system that criminalizes activism while protecting corruption,’ they added in Filipino.