Makabayan bloc slams terror law charges vs 34 activists

MANILA, Philippines — The Makabayan bloc condemned the military's decision to file terrorism charges against Bayan Muna Partylist Secretary General Nathanael Santiago and 33 other activists and human rights workers in Nueva Ecija.

In a joint-statement by Rep. France Castro (ACT-Teachers), Rep. Arlene Brosas (Gabriela Women’s Partylist) and Rep. Raoul Manuel (Kabataan Partylist), they denounced the charges filed against the activists at the Nueva Ecija Office of the Provincial Prosecutor as "baseless" and said that they were only meant to “silence critics” of the administration. 

“Their malicious intent is clear - to use these fabricated terrorism and other serious charges as grounds for a wholesale attack on the Makabayan coalition and  the progressive parties under its umbrella in order to intimidate, imprison, and silence our parties, elected representatives, leaders, and members and prevent us from giving voice to the poor and oppressed majority and articulating dissent,” the Makabayan bloc’s statement read.

“We demand that the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor of Nueva Ecija uphold the rights of the accused to a fair and impartial investigation and outrightly dismiss the trumped-up charges. We also call on the Marcos administration to stop using the Anti-Terror Act of 2020 as a tool for political persecution and harassment of critics and dissenters,” it added. 

The complaint was filed by soldiers from the 84th Infantry Battalion (IB), 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army stationed in Caranglan, Nueva Ecija. They assert that the accused individuals were implicated in an alleged military engagement between the 84th IB soldiers and a faction identified as "Kilusang Larangan Gerilya-Sierra Madre" (KLGSM) in October 2023.

The following raps has been filed by the soliders against the respondents:

Aside from Santiago, among the other accused who filed their counter-affidavits on Friday were:

According to a separate statement of the Makabayan bloc, the prosecutor on Jan. 19, 2024 has recommended the filing of the Anti-Terror Law charges against the activists.

However, the charges related to crimes against international humanitarian law, as well as the