FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Anti-corruption protester spends New Year behind bars: Karapatan calls for release of re-arrested Sept 21 protester Ryan Ombrog
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS RELEASE
31 December 2025
KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580
Anti-corruption protester spends New Year behind bars
Karapatan calls for release of re-arrested Sept 21 protester Ryan Ombrog
Ryan Ombrog will spend the New Year in jail.
Human rights alliance Karapatan called for release of Ryan Ombrog, a 28-year-old factory worker and resident of Barangay Maysan, Valenzuela City, one of the more than 200 individuals arrested and detained during the September 21 anti-corruption protests in Manila, who was re-arrested more than a week ago.
Ombrog was re-arrested on December 23, 2025 and is currently detained at the Valenzuela City Police Station, by virtue of a warrant of arrest dated December 18, 2025 issued by the Regional Trial Court, Branch 182, Manila City, for two counts of Simple Arson under Presidential Decree No. 1613, with bail set at ₱20,000.00.
Because he was arrested a day before the holidays, his family will only be able to process his bail until government offices resume on January 5.
“Ombrog is no corrupt official, he is just an ordinary working class Filipino. Now he will spend the New Year behind bars, because he protested against corruption,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay. “How about the corrupt? How about the government officials and minions who should be the ones languishing in jail for robbing the people?”
Ombrog was previously arrested on September 21, 2025, and was released on October 2, 2025 after posting bail, which was initially set at ₱18,000.00 and later reduced to ₱9,000.00. He has also faced charges under provisions of the Revised Penal Code and Batas Pambansa Blg. 880, laws long criticized for being used to criminalize dissent. During his detention, he lost his job as a factory worker earning P695 for eight hours.
KARAPATAN also deplored how Ombrog was threatened by the police during his first arrest that he will never come out of jail because he will be charged with arson. The threat caused much unrest on the part of Ombrog. “The police definitely singled out Ombrog, and dragging him now back into detention only renews the trauma caused by police brutality and unjust arrests during the protests,” said Palabay.
KARAPATAN also called for the dismissal of all charges against the September 21 protesters, stressing that these cases are being used to divert public attention from the real issue of large-scale corruption in government.
“These cases deliberately deflect attention away from the real problem of entrenched, large-scale corruption under the Marcos Jr. administration,” Palabay said. “As another year comes to a close, the Filipino people are still waiting, not for the arrest of those who protest corruption, but for the arrest and detention of corrupt officials, all the way to the top.”#
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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.