TEMPLE-BEAUDRY : Activists Urge Release of Filipino Prisoners

Members of the Filipino community are petitioning the Philippine government to release 291 political prisoners, most of whom were jailed during the reign of the late Ferdinand Marcos.

Fifty-nine prisoners began a hunger strike early last month, demanding release and protesting alleged abuse. More prisoners have now joined the strike.

Although 24 prisoners were freed Jan. 12, the day before Pope John Paul II arrived in the Philippines for a three-day visit, Filipino community activists in Los Angeles began working for the release of the others by collecting signatures and protesting outside the Philippine Consulate.

“Some of these prisoners were criminalized, charged with things they didn’t do,” said Los Angeles activist Edwin Habacon. “Most of them are farmers and peasants who couldn’t afford lawyers.”

Local Filipino activists have been collecting signatures from labor unions, community and cultural groups and college campuses.

To show the media that many Filipino Americans support the cause of the prisoners, petitions are being faxed from Los Angeles to a national peasant-support group in the Philippines.

Activists have been in contact with supporters and families in the Philippines, but so far have received no word as to whether more prisoners will be released, said Joe Navidad, chairman of the Filipino rights group Bayan International and coordinator of the local Philippine Peasant Support Network.

The Philippine government has been working toward release of the prisoners since the 1992 repeal of the anti-subversion law, which banned the country’s Communist party and allowed people to be imprisoned for their political beliefs. The law was enacted in 1986 under Marcos.

Release of the prisoners has been delayed because the government needs to evaluate each case, said Roy Gorre, Philippines Consulate spokesman. Because some of the political prisoners were charged with other crimes stemming from civil strife in the islands, each case must be heard before a prisoner can be released.

“It’s not such a simple matter,” Gorre said. “It’s an unfolding process, and there was bloodshed on both sides. You can’t just wake up one morning and say, ‘All the political prisoners go free.’ There are other charges as well, and those have to be sorted out.”

Nevertheless, Gorre said, he believes the prisoners eventually will be freed.

“Since the anti-subversion law was repealed, there is no longer a basis for political prisoners to be held,” he said.

Gorre said the allegations about prison abuse have not been specific. He said non-governmental groups regularly monitor prisons in the Philippines to ensure humane conditions.

But local Filipino activists remain skeptical.

“No one will say that people are tortured there,” Habacon said. “The consulate is here to protect what is going on back home.”