Bail grant to Revilla an "injustice," "double standard" - LAYA, SELDA
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS RELEASE
3 August 2026
Reference: Amanda Echanis, LAYA spokesperson
LAYA secretariat, through KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580
Bail grant to Revilla an "injustice," "double standard" - LAYA, SELDA
The LAYA Campaign to Free All Political Prisoners and the Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) assailed the injustice and double standard evident in the Sandiganbayan’s grant of plunderer Bong Revilla’s motion for bail.
Revilla, who was jailed six months ago on malversation charges in connection with a ghost flood control project in Bulacan, posted bail worth Php 1 million.
In contrast, political prisoner Fatima Banjawan, who has been charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives based on planted evidence and the perjured testimonies of soldiers from the 85th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) has been denied bail by the Regional Trial Court in Labo, Camarines Norte hearing her case. On top of this, her military captors have been incessantly harassing her, her sister Pauline Joy who is also a political prisoner, and their family.
Community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and development worker Marielle Domequil were also denied bail by the Tacloban City court that unjustly convicted them for terrorism financing, a bailable offense. But Imelda Marcos, who was convicted in 2018 of seven counts of graft and sentenced to 77 years imprisonment, is free on bail and has never been behind bars.
The most striking example is Juan Ponce Enrile, who was jailed on plunder and graft charges, but was able to walk free on bail, with the court citing his advanced age and fragile health. His co-accused, Atty. Gigi Reyes, was later able to secure her release through a habeas corpus petition, saying that her right to speedy trial had been violated in the course of her nine-year detention.
But no elderly, ailing and long-detained political prisoner has been released despite these precedents, showing that the justice system treats equal protection of the law as an alien concept when it comes to political prisoners.
LAYA and SELDA decried: a justice system that favors grafters and plunderers over those who fight for accountability is one that runs on impunity and dispenses injustice. They reiterated their call to Jail the Corrupt and Free All Political Prisoners. #
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