After three months of detention, the Bakwit School 7 were finally released on May 14 following a Davao del Norte court’s dismissal of the trumped up charges filed against them. The Bakwit School 7 are Chad Booc, Roshelle Mae Porcadilla, Benito Bay-ao, Segundo Milong, Jomar Benag, Esmelito Oribawan and Moddie Mansimuy-at. They were arrested during a police raid inside a campus of the University of San Carlos in Cebu City on February 15. They were falsely charged with kidnapping and illegal detention of Lumad children.

Earlier, the military and police forcibly took into custody 26 Lumad students and forced them to go home to Mindanao. Among them, eighteen along with their parents today remain under military custody.

Despite the court’s decision, the NTF-ELCAC threatened on May 19 that it plans to file new charges against the seven.