POLICE ELEMENTS ARRESTED former Anakpawis Rep. Ari­el Ca­si­lao and twelve other volunteers and residents in Norza­ga­ray, Bu­lacan on April 19. Casilao and five other volunteers were set to deliver relief goods to farmers when they were apprehended at a checkpoint at 10:15 a.m.

They were brought to the Norzagaray police station, along with seven residents who were supposed to receive aid, and were detained there for two hours. There were then brought to the Bulacan Police Provincial Office in Malolos where they are being held until today. They were accused of planning to conduct a rally and were charged with sedition.

The arrest shows the Duterte regime’s perverse priorities even amid the pandemic and utter contempt for the plight of the Filipino people. The arrest is a handiwork of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) which is led by Duterte’s generals.