Human rights groups protested in front of the Department of Justice in Manila on December 3 to call for the release of all political prisoners in the country. Led by Karapatan and Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA), an organization of former political prisoners, the demonstration was timed with the International Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners.

Political prisoners are individuals who have been arrested, detained, and charged by the government for their principles, activities, or stand that are critical of or opposed to the government. They are often activists, rights defenders, or members of mass organizations that the state considers a threat.

Many political prisoners in the Philippines are detained on fabricated criminal charges, according to human rights groups. The state also deliberately prolongs the judicial process to keep them imprisoned longer, aiming to suppress and silence their struggle.

Karapatan’s latest data records 696 political prisoners in the Philippines, with 302 in Mindanao, 243 in Luzon, and 97 on Negros island. No fewer than 163 individuals were arrested and became political prisoners under the Marcos regime.

Of the total 696, 136 are women, 93 are elderly, and 89 are ailing. Twelve National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultants and staff are also detained.

SELDA spokesperson Adora Faye de Vera said most political prisoners in the country are farmers, labor organizers, human rights defenders, and development workers. She said they were charged based on suspicions of having links to the revolutionary movement in the Philippines.

De Vera added that the Marcos regime’s use of laws such as the Anti-Terror Act and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act became prominent in imprisoning political detainees. At least 30 prisoners are detained under these charges.

At the end of the protest, Karapatan and SELDA expressed support for the initiatives and activities of political prisoners nationwide. They also declared their determination to continue their campaign to free political prisoners, end the criminalization of dissent, and hold state forces accountable for violating human rights. The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) joined these calls.

Meanwhile, the Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (FFPS), an international group supporting the NDFP and the national democratic revolution, spearheaded the appeal to free detained NDFP consultants and staff. According to FFPS, their detention violates the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).

“These detentions not only violate their basic rights but also undermine the peace process between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the NDFP,” according to FFPS. The GRP’s actions clearly demonstrate insincerity in achieving a just and lasting peace in the country.