“Peaceful and justified,” these are the words of Azrael de Guzman, one of the six arrested youth activists during the May 1 protest, in an open letter to the public, calling for their immediate release.
“Cellphones were not where they were left, tables were moved, windows are open, doors show clear signs of forced entry.”
“We vehemently condemn this brazen attack on the youth. This is a conscious and orchestrated attack to deplatform dissent and to silence the critical voice of the youth.”
“The education sector will suffer from huge budget cuts while the NTF-ELCAC [National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict] enjoys a big allocation, or P10 billion budget for silencing the people’s dissent. Both the offices of Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte will have bloated confidential and intelligence funds.”
“Certainly, no evidence was presented showing that Anakbayan is the recruiting arm of or somehow connected to the CPP-NPA.”
The groups are firm that the filing of charges against them and their members are pure harassment as these charges were later dismissed by the courts.
Alicia Lucena’s phone was then confiscated, denying her the opportunity to contact a paralegal or a lawyer. Bangayan said Lucena’s father arrived at the village hall, accompanied by a staff from the government’s Inter-Agency Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
Prior to his arrest, Dennise was coordinating relief efforts in Marikina. He planned to use proceeds from his small coffee business to procure relief goods and offer livelihood opportunities in the neighborhood.
“Another victory for the youth — a clear manifestation of fighting for rights and injustices of the Filipino people is not unlawful.”
“We are confident that this junking will set a precedent, and show that we are innocent of all the trumped-up charges, slander, and redtagging propaganda levelled at us by Duterte and his fascist cohorts.”
The National Union of Peoples Lawyers (NUPL), counsel for Anakbayan, lambasted the NTF-ELCAC “for capitalizing on a familial conflict and turning it into a witch-hunt for members of Anakbayan and the Kabataan Partylist, which are legitimate organizations advancing the Filipino youth’s aspirations for national democracy.”