Ex-political prisoners welcome acquittal of Amanda Echanis

[KARAPATAN Public Information]

Press Release

14 January 2026

Reference: Danilo dela Fuente, SELDA Vice-Chairperson

Ex-political prisoners welcome acquittal of Amanda Echanis

The Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA), an organization of former political prisoners, welcomed the acquittal on January 14, 2025 of poet, writer and peasant organizer Amanda Echanis from trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

Echanis, an organizer of the Cagayan chapter of the Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women, was acquitted after a trial that spanned five years. She was arrested with her month-old infant son in Barangay Carupian, Baggao, Cagayan in the early morning of December 2, 2020. Her arrest was part of a crackdown on the peasant movement in Cagayan since it coincided with the raid on the house of Isabelo Adviento, chair of Danggayan-Cagayan, the regional chapter of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas. Adviento was not home at the time, but the raiders nonetheless planted guns, ammunition and explosives in his house and filed a trumped-up case of illegal possession of firearms and explosives against him.

The same was done in the house where Echanis was staying with her child. Echanis and her host family had been roused from their sleep by soldiers and police and ordered to step outside the house before the raiding team entered and planted the guns, ammunition and grenade in one of the rooms. It was only after the raiders had already forced their way in that a search warrant was shown to Echanis. One of Amanda’s attorneys, Atty. Jobert Pahilga of the National Union of People’s Lawyers, said that the room where the planted items were found was not even the one being occupied by Echanis and her infant.

Echanis was one of almost 300 political prisoners facing trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, a common default non bailable case filed against activists when State forces are at a loss on what to charge those targeted for persecution. They constitute almost 50% of the total number of political prisoners nationwide. In most cases, however, these cases are dismissed as members of the raiding party often trip over themselves and provide ludicrous or contradictory testimonies and in the process, are proven to have given perjured statements.

“We hope that Amanda Echanis is only the first political prisoner to be released and vindicated this year on such bogus charges,” said SELDA vice chair Danilo dela Fuente. Other activists whose promulgations have been scheduled this month for trumped-up cases are National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant Esteban Manuel (January 14), community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and development worker Marielle Domequil (January 22).

Echanis’ lawyers are reportedly looking at the possibility of filing counter-charges against her arresting officers. Earlier, indigenous rights activists Niezel  Velasco and Julieta Gomez whose fraudulent IPFE cases were dismissed in April 2025 are seeking criminal accountability for the police officers responsible for their illegal arrest and detention. Also mulling similar counter-charges are urban poor organizers Reynaldo Viernes and John Griffen Arlegui whose trumped-up IPFE cases were dismissed in February 2025.

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