🏳️🌈 Rainbow Thursday: Pride is a Protest to free political prisoners, fight for justice for LGBTQ+ activists 🏳️🌈
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS RELEASE
June 18, 2026
Reference: Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general, 09173162831
KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580
🏳️🌈 Rainbow Thursday: Pride is a Protest to free political prisoners, fight for justice for LGBTQ+ activists 🏳️🌈
As Pride Month is commemorated and celebrated across the country, KARAPATAN joined Bahaghari in calling for the immediate release of all political prisoners, including LGBTQ+ activists Verdy Pongasi and Alexa Pacalda, whose continued detention reflects the broader climate of impunity and human rights violations under the Marcos Jr. administration.
“Pride is both a celebration and a continuing assertion of rights, dignity, and freedom in the face of discrimination, repression, and injustice,” said Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general. “The call to free all political prisoners, with detained LGBTQ+ activists Verdy Pongasi and Alexa Pacalda among them, is in solidarity with those whose fundamental rights are violated under a system that criminalizes dissent and perpetuates impunity.”
Wilmar “Verdy” Pongasi is a political prisoner detained at the Negros Occidental District Jail in Bago City, Negros Occidental. A queer activist, peasant organizer, human rights defender, and convenor of Kabataan Para sa Karapatan (KPK)-Negros, Pongasi was illegally arrested on October 3, 2020 and charged with fabricated cases of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Alex Pacalda is a peasant organizer and human rights defender from Quezon province. Prior to her arrest, she was active in Gabriela Youth and the College Editors Guild of the Philippines in Quezon. She later worked with Karapatan Quezon, and helped document human rights violations and supported peasant communities. Pacalda was arrested on September 4, 2019 and charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives. On March 15, 2023, she was wrongfully convicted on these charges and has since been detained at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City.
“Political imprisonment through trumped up charges persists, red-tagging continues, and human rights defenders remain vulnerable to extrajudicial killings, harassment, arbitrary arrests, and persecution,” Palabay said. “The Marcos Jr. administration has retained the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) as a centerpiece of its counterinsurgency program, enabling the continuation of attacks against activists, community organizers, and rights defenders with even greater intensity.”
Palabay cited the killing of LGBTQ+ activists Kai Sorem, Maureen Santuyo and RJ Ledesma, who were among those slain in Toboso, Negros Occidental, as well as the killings of human rights activists Ryan Hubilla and Ali Macalintal; indigenous rights defenders Julie Catamin, Chad Booc and Lenie Rivas; and New People’s Army fighter Kaliska Peralta, who was rendered hors de combat and killed in 2024. “Justice remains elusive for all of them,” she said.
KARAPATAN likewise deplored the continuing role of the NTF-ELCAC in vilifying and targeting individuals and organizations engaged in legitimate rights advocacy and community work. The organization stressed that the task force's red-tagging campaigns have contributed to the persecution of activists, human rights defenders, and development workers, while further constricting democratic space.
“The struggle for LGBTQ+ rights is intrinsically linked to the broader struggle for people’s rights,” Palabay added. “Aside from the daily realities of various forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, LGBTQ+ Filipinos are also affected by extrajudicial killings, militarization, political persecution, and the shrinking of democratic spaces. True equality cannot exist where people are imprisoned for their political beliefs and advocacy. Pride demands not only recognition, but, more importantly, justice, accountability, and freedom from fear and persecution.”
KARAPATAN expressed solidarity with Bahaghari and all organizations advancing LGBTQ+ rights and reiterated its demand for the immediate release of Verdy Pongasi, Alexa Pacalda, and all political prisoners. The group also renewed its calls to junk repressive terror laws and dismantle the NTF-ELCAC, which continue to threaten civil and political rights, including the rights of LGBTQ+ persons.
“This Pride Month, we stand with all those deprived of their liberty and lives for defending the rights and welfare of the people. There can be no genuine Pride while political prisoners remain behind bars and people’s rights continue to be violated with impunity,” Palabay concluded.
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KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties. It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign. It was established in 1995.