After five years in prison, a court in Cagayan acquitted and released political prisoner Amanda Echanis on January 14. State forces arrested peasant organizer and writer Echanis on December 2, 2020 in Baggao, Cagayan, on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

Police raided the house hosting Echanis in Barangay Carupian and claimed to have found an M16 rifle, ammunition, and a grenade. She was immediately arrested along with her newborn infant.

The Tuguegarao City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 10 decided on the basis that prosecutors failed to prove the crime charged against Echanis. The court added that the prosecutors’ speculations were not enough to fully establish her guilt.

Echanis’s family, friends, colleagues, lawyers, and progressive organizations warmly welcomed her release. They maintained that her five-year imprisonment was an injustice and a period stolen from her by the state.

“This proves that the case filed against Amanda was fabricated to silence activists and advocates of farmers’ and people’s rights in Cagayan Valley. She should never have been jailed and separated from her child,” Amihan national chairperson Zenaida Soriano said. Echanis belongs to Amihan, a federation of peasant women.

Echanis was represented by the lawyers group Sentro Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra, or Center for Genuine Agrarian Reform), which said that her prolonged detention by state forces on baseless allegations is a “disturbing pattern.” The group said this pattern erodes due process and public trust in institutions, and terrorizes those engaged in legitimate struggle.

The group added that while the court’s decision marks a step toward justice, accountability remains necessary. “True accountability requires a broader review of the circumstances that led to this wrongful prosecution and detention,” Sentra said.

The group urged authorities to immediately review similar cases and free others like Echanis. They added that officials responsible for abuses of power must be held to account, and that policies weaponizing the justice system against human rights defenders must be dismantled.

Karapatan shared the same view. “Those who ordered her arrest, planted evidence, lied in court, and prolonged her detention must be held criminally and administratively accountable,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said. She added that such abuses will continue without accountability.

Those who welcomed Echanis’s release from the Cagayan Provincial Jail in Tuguegarao City included her University of the Philippines-Diliman University Student Council (UPD USC) fellow officers. While in detention, Echanis was elected as the top councilor of the UPD USC in May 2025.

“The release of Amanda Echanis is a victory of collective action and an important step in defending academic freedom and advancing genuine social justice,” the student council declared.

Upon her release, Echanis vowed to continue organizing and advancing the rights of farmers. She also said she will keep demanding justice for her father, Randall Echanis, who was killed by state forces on August 10, 2020.