Family members, fellow peasants and human rights defenders welcomed the court’s dismissal of charges filed against Imelda Sultan, leader of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) in Escalante City, last July 10.

Sultan was arrested, along with NFSW member Lindy Perocho, on November 1, 2019, using a defective search warrant from the office of Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert of the Quezon City Trial Court. Sultan is the last to be released of the 57 activists in Negros who were unjustly imprisoned due to that court’s warrants.

Sultan and Perocho were detained on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. Perocho was earlier released when her case was dismissed in March. They languished for almost five years in jail on trumped-up charges.

Karapatan said Burgos-Villavert issued up to 76 flawed search warrants that resulted in the illegal arrests and detention of numerous activists from 2018 to 2020. During this time, the court’s office was called a “search warrant factory.”

These search warrants stopped the Supreme Court junked on July 2021 a circular (A.M No. 03-8-02-SC) that allowed judges like Burgos-Villavert to issue search warrants outside their region.

In May, human rights groups called for her disqualification from any higher position in the judiciary when her name appeared on the list to be appointed to the Court of Appeals.