Youth activists Carmen Jonahville (CJ) Matarlo and John Michael Tecson were released on November 13 after more than two years in prison after a Negros Occidental court dismissed the charges of the illegal possession of firearms and explosives charges filed against them. The two were arrested on March 18, 2022, along with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Ramon Patriarca in Barangay Suay, Himamaylan City.

The two were acquitted after the police failed to present to the court the video they claimed was captured by their “body cameras,” contradicting their allegation that the weapons and grenades they presented in court were seized at the feet of Tecson and Matarlo.

Their lawyer Atty. Kristian Jacob Casas-Abad Lora said they repeatedly filed motions to present this to the court, but police eventually admitted having no such video, with the lame excuse that the “body camera” wearing officer during the operation “hid out of fear” and thereby failed to capture the incident.

Matarlo graduated from the University of the Philippines Cebu in 2016. While at the university, she served as a student leader. After graduating, she became Kabataan Party-list vice president for the Visayas. She survived a murder attempt in 2017 when their fact-finding mission in Bayawan, Negros Oriental was attacked by gunfire.

Tecson and Matarlo were with Patriarca in the barangay conducting a deep study in the adjacent barangays in the Cojuangco family property. They were investigating why the hacienda was excluded from the government’s land distribution program and the impact this had on the farmers and farm workers in the community.

Tecson is an environmental defender and organizer. He is the son of Alberto Tecson, the murdered president of Pamalakaya in Guihulngan City.