KARAPATAN: Stop torture, free all political prisoners!
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS RELEASE
June 26, 2026
Reference: Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general, 09173162831
KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580
KARAPATAN: Stop torture, free all political prisoners!
On June 26, 2026, the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, and as the United Nations begins its Global Review of the Counter-Terrorism Strategy, KARAPATAN calls for the release of all political prisoners in the Philippines who experienced torture, prolonged and arbitrary detention, trumped-up charges included terror legislations, and the criminalization of dissent.
“Majority of the 685 political prisoners experienced physical and/psychological torture. They have endured years in prison despite the lack of the evidence and false testimonies presented against them. At the same time, their prolonged and arbitrary detention, being made to suffer from inhumane prison conditions, and restrictions imposed on political prisoners inflict severe physical and psychological suffering on individuals who have committed no crime other than asserting and defending people’s rights,” said Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general.
“As the United Nations opens its Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy Review today, we emphasize that the Philippine laws regarding terrorism have worsened this situation, as these measures are used to suppress dissent and human rights work,” she said.
Among the political prisoners facing trumped up terrorism charges are community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, and humanitarian workers Marielle Domequil, Deacon Aldeem Yanez and Emilio Gabales.
KARAPATAN also cited the cases of Bob Reyes, JP and Grace Verzosa, and Rita Espinoza, who have languished in jail for many years, while still awaiting court decision on their cases.
Reyes, a public sector union organizer, was arrested on June 3, 2018 by operatives of the Philippne National Police - Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG), where explosives were allegedly recovered from his small slingbag. It was only on the eighth year of his arrest that he was able to testify before the court in his defense.
Meanwhile, artists and peasant organizers JP and Grace Verzosa were arrested in June 28, 2013 in their home in Marikina. Served with a defective warrant issued by a court in Samar, the couple were both charged with robbery, homicide, and illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The basis of their arrest remains questionable, with the issuance of an alias warrant that failed to bear their actual names. As the courts have concluded its hearings, they continue to wait for the promulgation of the case, 13 years of detention and counting.
Development worker and rural poor advocate Rita Espinoza has been in jail for nine years, for trumped up charges of rebellion, destructive arson, and other fabricated offenses, as she was apprehended in Negros Occidental after a two-day consultation with the members of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) on October 19, 2017.
According to KARAPATAN, 172 of the 685 political prisoners were arrested under the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration. There had been 233 documented cases of torture under the Duterte administration, and recently, 53 cases under the Marcos Jr. administration.
“Despite the Philippines’ accession to the United Nations Convention Against Torture in 1986, its ratification of the Optional Protocol in 2012, and the enactment of the Anti-Torture Act in 2009, torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment continue to be reported while accountability remains elusive,” Palabay said.
Meanwhile, KARAPATAN urged the international community to uncover and criticize the Philippines’ counterterrorism record and hold the government accountable for the use of counterterrorism measures that violate international human rights standards, at the opening of the UN Global Review of the Counter-Terrorism Strategy in New York, USA.
“The main machinery for State terror formed by former president Rodrigo Duterte, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, is maintained by Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.,” said Palabay. “We ask the international community to make this notorious terror-taggers and warmongers answer for its bloody record of rights violations,” said Palabay.
KARAPATAN strongly demands the dismissal of all trumped-up charges filed under terror laws against activists and human rights defenders, and the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC, which has become one of the government’s most reliable machineries for terrorizing individuals and communities.
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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.