Death is used as a warning but memory becomes a form of defiance.

TAIWAN — “And when your time is up, will you have done enough, will they tell your story?”

These paraphrased words may be from the hit broadway musical Hamilton, but it is an ever perennial question for activists and journalists in Negros Island. Community journalist RJ Ledesma faced it daily as he dared to write the critical stories that needed to be told despite the danger he faced.

Long before his name appeared in statements and articles nationwide as a casualty in the Toboso 19 massacre, Ledesma was a student journalist in Bacolod City. He studied psychology at the University of St. La Salle and served as editor-in-chief of The Spectrum, the university’s student publication.

It was there, in the small but demanding world of campus journalism that Ledesma began shaping the discipline that would later define his work. He listened closely and wrote plainly. He treated journalism not as a career detached from the people but as a form of public service.

Since 2021, Ledesma led Paghimutad, an alternative media outfit in Negros island focused on human rights reporting and grassroots storytelling. He later became AlterMidya’s regional coordinator for the area, covering social, environmental, and agrarian issues from the grassroots.

Those were not abstract beats in Negros. They were the island’s living contradictions as evidenced in renewable energy projects rising on contested agrarian reform land, palm oil expansion promising jobs while farmers feared eviction, and “development” arriving in communities already marked by militarization, poverty, and landlessness.

In July 2024, Ledesma reported on residents of three Candoni villages who feared being uprooted by a PhP2-billion palm oil project tied to the Consunji family. Locals said that bulldozers had already arrived, homes and livelihoods were being disrupted, and land classified as forest included areas long inhabited by Indigenous people. 

Months later, he reported on 19 farmworker households in Hacienda Sta. Maria Uno in Silay City who faced demolition as a PhP3-billion, 69-megawatt solar project rose on land previously covered by agrarian reform. 

Such stories show the kind of journalism Ledesma pursued. It did not begin with a copy and paste military-fed press release or government or corporate photo ops. It began with the people at the heart of the story who stood to lose the most. 

This was the Negros that Ledesma documented, not an island of postcard sweet sugarcane but the bitter realities sustaining the island’s semi-feudal structure kept hidden by the powerful few.

It was also the Negros that had buried many of its brightest souls that dared to not only serve the marginalized but also critique the system that sustains the island-wide injustice.

Human rights worker Zara Alvarez was fatally shot in Bacolod City in August 2020 during the height of the pandemic. The deceased Karapatan paralegal and research officer of the Negros Island Health Integrated Program had faced threats and harassment linked to her human rights work, and had been among the many frequently red-tagged activists in Negros. 

In November 2018, lawyer Benjamin Ramos was killed in Kabankalan City. He was a founding member of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Negros Occidental. He was a peasant rights advocate and a lawyer who provided free legal aid to marginalized communities. At the time of his death, he was representing families of farmers killed in the Sagay 9 massacre.

Their stories form part of a grim pattern in Negros. Those who defend farmers, document abuses, or challenge official state narratives often do not only face death. They face a second violence after death, which is the attempt to define their lives for them.

The state and military have repeatedly vilified activists, organizers, and alternative media workers through the language of insurgency and red-tagging. At the time of his murder along with 18 others in Toboso, the military quickly labeled them as “terrorists” and combatants of the New People’s Army.

But for the farmers Ledesma covered, the state’s attempt at slandering his life could not erase the person they knew.

In Candoni, former palm oil plantation worker Rosie Canillo said that Ledesma was not a distant reporter who arrived only to collect quotes. He stayed with communities, listened to their accounts, and helped bring attention to land displacement, labor retrenchment and environmental destruction linked to plantation expansion.

When asked if her name could be used to tell her story about him, Canillo answered in Hiligaynon: “Definitely, anything for RJ.”

Canillo said that Ledesma helped retrenched workers file a case with the Department of Labor and Employment after they lost their jobs. Another local farmer, Lynlyn Casenio, remembered him spending days with farmers facing displacement. She said that he did not treat their experiences as ordinary interviews but as stories carrying the pain of families at risk of losing land, homes, and livelihood.

That is the kind of memory the state has difficulty destroying. A press release can call a person an enemy. Trolls can flood social media with impunity. Officials can reduce a journalist’s life to an allegation.

But the people who were heard, because Ledesma listened, remember differently. They remember who sat with them. They remember who wrote their names. They remember who made their struggles harder to erase.

In the harsh reality that Negros has endured for decades, it is often the privileged few who get to live fully and safely. The activists, journalists, lawyers, and organizers are made to know death intimately. But it is the masses and the people’s movement that continue to tell the story, despite every attempt to demonize those who choose to serve the marginalized, whether by the gun, the law, or the pen.

This is the paradox of Negros. Death is used as a warning but memory becomes a form of defiance.

Ledesma once said in an essay, “To live in Negros is to know death.” It is a sentence that now reads almost like prophecy. But his life also showed another truth: To write in Negros is to resist.

And because of the farmers, workers, students, advocates, and communities whose voices he carried, RJ Ledesma’s story will not end with the military’s version of his death.

It will live in the people who still speak his name. It will live in the struggles he wrote about. It will live so long as people continue to resist and hold truth to power. (DAA)

DISCLOSURE: The author was a friend of RJ Ledesma and a previous assistant editor of Paghimutad prior to Ledesma taking over in 2021.

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Bella Lutap, 20, who had been missing for two days, was found dead in an irrigation canal in Nueva Ecija at around 3:40 p.m. on June 19, 2026. Her body was discovered submerged in the water with rocks tied to it, and was reportedly almost unrecognizable.

“I know Bella Lutap and she is my friend,” says Yell Teresa, spokesperson of gender rights group Bahaghari. “I heavily mourn for Bella because their stories reveal how violence against trans people is sustained by machismo and patriarchy that treats trans existence as disposable.”

Authorities identified her ex-boyfriend, Calvin, as the primary suspect in her brutal killing. He is currently under police custody and was charged with murder. It was Calvin’s father who discovered Lutap’s body.

In a report by Nueva Ecija-based community media, Calvin denied involvement in the crime but apologized to the family for leaving Lutap behind. They also reported that Marivic Lutap, the victim’s mother, called for justice and accountability to the people behind the killing.

Forensic investigation from the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) revealed that Lutap died of manual strangulation. It also showed that Lutap resisted the violence based on her wounds in the neck and arms.

“During a month meant to honor the resilience, dignity, and humanity of LGBTQIA+ people, Bella’s brutal killing reminds us that Pride is not only a celebration. It is also a call for justice, safety, and accountability,” said the Society of Trans Women of the Philippines (STRAP) in a statement.

Pioneer Filipino Trans Men Movement (FTM)’s data show that there have been more than 300 documented murders of transgender Filipinos due to transphobia. These cases are perceived to be lower, Pioneer FTM Executive Director Rocky Rinabor said, due to misgendering, underreporting, family concealment, and limitations in the monitoring system.

Read: Legal gender recognition upholds rights of transgender, non-binary people

“We refuse to let Bella become just another statistic. Her life mattered. Her story matters. And her death demands answers,” STRAP added.

Bulatlat asked the Philippine National Police (PNP) for the 10-year data of victims of homicide and murder, stratified by gender identity, including transgender people. The agency has yet to respond to the request. 

“These incidents are not isolated but rather the consequences of systems that fail to protect transgender Filipinos,” Teresa added. “Justice for Bella, justice for all trans people whose names we may never know, unreported, and hidden.”

Meanwhile, the international project Trans Murder Monitoring revealed that there have been more than 100 LGBTQ+-related killings in the Philippines.

Bahaghari vowed that the LGBTQIA+ community will continue to protest for equal rights, safe, and inclusive spaces for all. (AMU, RVO)

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In a statement, the Negros Island Region chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said that the incident aimed to intimidate, silence, and instill fear among journalists and media workers.

The group rejected attempts to reduce the assassination attempt as a mere personal dispute.

“Lavapiez, as a station manager and broadcaster, holds a public trust. Any attack against him strikes at the very heart of the people’s right to know and the freedom of the press guaranteed by our Constitution,” the group said.

According to NUJP’s national office, Lavapiez, station manager of Baskog Radyo, was on his way to the station past 5 a.m., driving his vehicle. He then saw two men on board a parked motorcycle across the highway of Villa de San Lorenzo, Barangay Cagay, Roxas City. Shots were then fired in his direction.

He reportedly parked his vehicle straddling the gutter to make the gunmen believe that he was injured. After this, the assailants fled the area.

Baskog Radyo said in a statement that they chose not to comment further on the incident as they want the authorities to do their investigation.

What happened to Lavapiez, it said, is a harsh reminder of what journalists and media workers face every day. However, it said honest and responsible journalism continues.

“If this attack was meant to scare us, it failed. No threat will ever change our commitment to honest, responsible journalism. No act of violence will stop us from keeping the public informed, and nobody is going to silence the questions this community deserves answers to,” Baskog Radyo said.

Lavapiez and his wife India faced multiple cyberlibel cases reportedly filed by local officials. India was arrested on March 11 for four counts of cyberlibel. She was freed that same day after posting bail.

Read: Group denounces libel vs Capiz broadcasters

In August 2025, the Sangguniang Bayan of Sigma approved a resolution declaring the two radio anchors personas non grata for allegedly disseminating false and misleading information.

NUJP’s national office urged authorities to promptly identify the perpetrators and the mastermind behind the attack. (DAA)

Disclosure: Bulatlat’s editor-in-chief, Ronalyn Olea, is the secretary-general of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.

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“Instead of finally putting teeth into the constitutional prohibition against political dynasties, this counterfeit bill does the exact opposite.”

CAGAYAN DE ORO — House Bill (HB) No. 8389 or the proposed Anti-Political Dynasty Act was recently passed by the House of Representatives on third and final reading, with 267 legislators voting in favor. However, many groups have described it as a “watered-down” and “bogus” version.

HB 8389 is a substitute bill consolidating 17 similar measures. Under the bill, spouses or relatives, whether illegitimate or half-blood, within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity are prohibited from holding simultaneously any elective position at the national level, which refers to positions of president, vice president, and senators.

The same prohibition applies to those who want to run as members of the House of Representatives and in provincial, city, and municipal governments, respectively.

This means that if a person holds an elective national position, for example, his or her relatives within the prohibited degree of relationship are barred from holding any elective position at the national level. However, they could run or hold elective positions at a different tier—a provision assailed by advocates.

This pattern is notably reflected in HB 6771, one of the consolidated bills, filed by House Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III and presidential son Ilocos Norte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos, although they proposed a wider degree of relationship which is within the fourth degree.

HB 6771 served as a working draft when the House version of the bill passed the committee level, where ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio described the procedure as a clear example of “railroading” the approval. 

Nine of the 17 consolidated bills proposed only prohibition within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity despite public clamor for wider coverage.

Read: Mindanao folks prefer wider anti-political dynasty law

There was also no provision in HB 8389 pertaining to the prohibition of “succession,” which prohibits those relatives of an incumbent official from immediately succeeding to the position of the latter. Such a provision was specified in some of the consolidated proposed measures of the bill like HB 381 and HB 909, to name a few.

In a statement, the Taumbayan Ayaw sa Magnanakaw at Abusado Network Alliance (Tama Na) said that the proposed measure only imposes restrictions within each government level instead of directly prohibiting the simultaneous occupancy of public office by relatives.

“It is therefore clear that the Anti-Dynasty Law passed by Congress is deceptive and bogus,” Tama Na said.

On June 8, two days after the approval, the lower chamber transmitted the bill to the Senate.

Senate version

The Senate has yet to pass its version which is still pending on second reading.

But Senate Bill (SB) No. 1901, or the proposed Anti-Political Dynasty Act, has similar provision to HB 8389 when it comes to coverage (within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity), and it has almost the same scenarios prohibiting political dynasty relationships. 

The difference in the Senate version is that spouses or relatives within the prohibited degree of relationship are not allowed to simultaneously hold or run for a seat within and across the party-list system. 

Spouses or relatives are also prohibited from holding any elective position under the party-list system and any national or local elective office in successive, simultaneous, or overlapping terms.

Both the House and Senate versions have the same definition of national level, while local elective office, under SB 1901, refers to seats in the House of Representatives and all elected officials of local government units.

The Senate version also specifies that “succession or appointment,” whether in a permanent or temporary capacity, shall be considered as holding an elective office.

For Tama Na, the ideal anti-political dynasty legislation was the proposed measures introduced by lawmakers under the Makabayan bloc, namely HB 209 filed by Tinio and Kabataan Party-list Rep. Renee Co and HB 4784 filed by Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Sarah Jane Elago. 

Both bills prohibit a person from holding or running for any national or local office simultaneously with another person within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity. The prohibited degree of relationship also applies to the prohibition of succession.

“The anti-dynasty law must have real teeth so that politicians cannot manipulate or circumvent its provisions,” Tama Na said.

The proposed measures filed by Makabayan bloc lawmakers, however, were not part of the consolidated bills under HB 8389.

Betrayal

Carlos Isagani Zarate, former Bayan Muna representative, said that the passage of HB 8389 was a “historic betrayal” of the Constitution’s mandate, calling the bill instead a “Dynasty Preservation Act.”

“Instead of finally putting teeth into the constitutional prohibition against political dynasties, this counterfeit bill does the exact opposite. It provides a legal roadmap for dynasties to expand their empires with absolute impunity,” he said in a statement.

Prior to the 20th Congress, HB 3587 in the 16th Congress was reportedly the last anti-political dynasty bill that reached the House plenary. Zarate and another former Bayan Muna representative Neri Colmenares were among the authors. However, it did not progress from second reading.

Under HB 3587, spouses or relatives within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity were not allowed to hold or run any national or local elective office in the same election. 

In an earlier statement, Tinio, Elago, and Co said they withdrew their support for the latest substitute bill, which they saw as a measure seeking to “regulate” instead to prohibit political dynasties. 

Read: Anti-dynasty bill passed by House panel criticized: ‘Prohibit, not regulate’

Zarate viewed political dynasties as a root cause of systemic corruption. He said that it also stifles genuine democratic participation in the country, depriving capable leaders from the marginalized and working-class sectors.

The former lawmaker urged the Filipino people to continuously expose the flaws of the bill. “We must not let this legal deception pass unchallenged,” he said. “We should break these chains of dynastic rule.” (DAA)

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Buenaflor’s newest children’s book “Si Wowa, Diyos, at Bayan!” reflects that gender-affirming faith is possible in the Philippines where queer violence is rooted in colonial times. 

The country is known for its vibrant queer visibility and culture and the second highest social acceptance rate in the Asia-Pacific, according to a 2013 Pew Research. However, the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sexual Characteristics (SOGIESC) Equality Bill has remained pending in Congress for more than 25 years. 

The book chronicles the life of Rev. Wowa Ledama, the first out trans woman deacon of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente who was ordained in February 2023. It is a story of how she challenged the conservative culture inside the church and the fear in a country still marred by violence. It is also a story of healing, particularly of how two of her mothers reconciled in her ordination and of how she fully embraced her identity.

The book also narrates the terror experienced by church workers and human rights defenders. Her fellow IFI ordained priest Aldeem Yanez is currently detained after being accused of illegal possession of firearms and explosives and terrorism financing. These accusations have been used by state security forces against the dissenters and activists. 

The freezing of assets of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines is another example of terror, aside from the red-tagging of church-based formations like the United Methodist Church Philippines, National Council of Churches in the Philippines, the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines, and the Catholic Church.

An excerpt of Buenaflor’s book states in Filipino, “Fearless in love. And this much is certain about Wowa: that she was shaped and forged by her love for God and the people. She stands today as one tempered by the witnessed prayers on the streets.”

The biography, written in the children’s book, shows that embracing one’s identity is a radical teaching of God to serve the people, especially the most marginalized, without discrimination. The act of serving in itself, knows no gender.

Read: Rainbow realities: A queer author writes radical stories for children

Last year, Bulatlat reported how Buenaflor brought radical visibility to children’s literature through stories that affirm queer identities, thus creating spaces for young audiences to create a just and compassionate world. At present, his works remain liberating. 

The book discusses the theologically rich concept of pagsasaksi or witnessing. Rooted in Wowa’s seminary formation, witnessing is an embodied practice that compels response and demands engagement with the suffering. It also highlights the existence of Wowa as a transgender deacon.

The concept of simbahang mapagpalaya grounds the narrative in the tradition of liberation theology and Wowa lets it live in the world that renders queer people invisible. 

This book is for every child, especially queer children who have been made to feel that faith and their truest selves cannot coexist. This book is a hopeful embrace that queer identity is accepted. (RTS, DAA)

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• Human rights: Civil and political rights, right to privacy, right to equal protection before the law, right to self-determination, access to basic social services

• Rights-holder: LGBTQIA+ people, transgender and non-binary individuals, general public

• Duty-bearer: Philippine government

The absence of legal gender recognition could result in a mismatch of identification records which would then hinder access of affected persons to decent work, mobility, and even social services. It also makes them vulnerable to harassment and discrimination.

“Transgender people are experiencing cultural, physical, and political violence. The cultural and physical violence comes from our doctrines such as religious frameworks that forced us to believe and assimilate,” said Rocky Rinabor, Pioneer Filipino Trans Men Movement (FTM) Executive Director. 

Political violence refers to the institutionalization of sanctions against identities viewed to be contradictory to the traditional or conservative perspective of gender that there are only male and female. Rinabor said that this manifests in schools, media, churches, homes, workplaces, public spaces, and even government institutions.

In 2018, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) documented several instances of how the lack of legal gender recognition adversely affects transgender people. 

• Work: A transgender human resource manager attested how hiring officers failed applicants because they were transgender. Meanwhile in a public office, a transgender woman employee was shamed when her supervisor issued a pronouncement to all subordinated officers that ordered employees to use only their legal names and not their preferred name.

• Education: In a requirement for a master’s degree, a transgender woman had to undergo a physical medical examination. Upon getting to the university clinic, she requested a female doctor. The nurse on duty told her that it is not the policy of the clinic to have a “male person to be examined by a female doctor.” 

• Public spaces and mobility: A club barred entry to a trans woman due to her Philippine-issued ID listing her as female. 

• Social security services: A transgender man failed to obtain a loan from the Social Security Services (SSS) due to discrepancy in documents– his driver’s license bore a female gender marker and his SSS records.

• Public records: Birth certificate is the primary document on which many other legal documents are based, including passport and other identification cards. However, there are no options for transgender people to change their first names or their gender markers on this document.

These cases are only the tip of the iceberg. Generally, trans women are often mixed with male persons deprived of liberty (PDL), where many of them experienced abuse. On the other hand, the policy review noted that transgender men are placed with women PDL in consideration of their “safety.”

“The respect of transgender people’s human rights encompasses the obligation to refrain from doing actions that violate those human rights. These include that States cannot criminalise gender expression, or put abusive eligibility criteria in place for legal gender recognition,” the policy review stated. “States also have positive obligations to protect people’s human rights (for example, against discriminatory practices), and also to fulfil them, by putting all necessary legislative, budgetary and other measures in place.”

Pioneer FTM’s data show that there have been more than 300 documented murders of transgender Filipinos due to transphobia. These cases are perceived to be lower, Rinabor said, due to misgendering, underreporting, family concealment, and limitations in the monitoring system.

Bulatlat asked the Philippine National Police (PNP) for the 10-year data of victims of homicide and murder, stratified by gender identity, including transgender people. The agency has yet to provide the information.

Meanwhile, the international project Trans Murder Monitoring revealed that there are more than 100 LGBTQ+ related killings in the Philippines.

Philippine laws deny transgender individuals the right to have their gender legally recognized. The Clerical Error Law (2001) only allows “correction” of the sex entry when it was a result of clerical typographical error, and not a person’s practice of self-determination of their identity— effectively closing off one of the few administrative avenues available to transgender people.

This exclusion was further cemented by a landmark 2007 Supreme Court (SC) ruling in Silverio v. Republic, in which the SC denied a transgender woman’s petition to have her name and gender marker corrected on her birth certificate. The SC held that a person’s sex is determined at birth by the attending medical professional, and that the legal definition of “sex” does not extend to individuals who have undergone gender reassignment procedures.

Due to this decision, the SC established a legal obstacle for transgender Filipinos pursuing gender recognition. Without legislative reform, transgender individuals will remain unable to obtain identity documents that reflect who they are, exposing them to ongoing discrimination, social exclusion, and barriers to accessing basic services.

“Some people transition. Some people do not. While, some of us cannot transition at all because of barriers: lack of support systems, access to healthcare, financial constraints, and stigma,” Rinabor said. “Legal gender recognition is both a concept, process, and a principle of recognition.” (RTS, DAA)

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“While many cases against human rights defenders have been dismissed for lack of evidence, it is clear that anti-terror laws are wielded by the Philippine government to silence critical voices.”

CAGAYAN DE ORO — United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression Irene Khan cited the continuing detention of Filipino journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio in her final report to the UN Human Rights Council.

Khan’s 18-page report examined how the intersection of public and private powers and the convergence of geopolitical and corporate interests driving the digital revolution exploit the vulnerabilities of freedom of expression.

“Protecting freedom of expression requires States to uphold human rights, but when the world’s most powerful government threatens to use its political and economic weapons – from tariffs to sanctions – to dissuade other States from regulating its digital and AI companies, then freedom of expression becomes fodder for geopolitics, a commodity for trade,” Khan said in a statement.

The special rapporteur said that the use of counter-terrorism laws and other similar legislation in connection to national security has been intensified to prosecute journalists, human rights defenders, and pro-democracy activists.

Specifically, the UN expert cited the weaponization of terrorism financing laws in the Philippines, highlighting the Filipino journalist’s case that has dragged on for several years.

While she did not mention Cumpio’s name in her report, Khan has been campaigning for her immediate release, being the first journalist in the country convicted for terrorism financing. Her case was also included in the “most urgent” press freedom cases in the world in 2026 compiled by One Free Press Coalition.

In January 2024, Khan visited Cumpio when she was still detained at the Tacloban City Jail. The latter is now detained in the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong.

TIMELINE: The prolonged detention of Filipino journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) agreed with the issues raised by Khan. The group thanked the UN expert for reiterating the weaponization of terrorism financing laws in the Philippines and for citing Cumpio’s case, knowing that fellow Filipino journalist Deo Montesclaros has faced a similar terrorism financing complaint.

“While many cases against human rights defenders have been dismissed for lack of evidence, it is clear that anti-terror laws are wielded by the Philippine government to silence critical voices,” NUJP said in a statement, calling for an assessment of the impact of these laws on the exercise of fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and opinion.

In addition, the group echoed Khan’s insights on the collusion between governments and big tech companies, recounting the unaddressed appeals of human rights defenders on Meta to remove red-tagging social media posts, including those done by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and other state actors despite the Supreme Court ruling that such a labeling practice is a threat to a person’s right to life, liberty, and security.

“Proposed legislations supposedly aiming to combat disinformation, and regulate social media use contain dangerous provisions curtailing freedom of expression and opinion,” NUJP said. “Likewise, mandatory social media regulation can be used for surveillance and undermine the citizens’ right to privacy.”

Read: Swift dev’t of anti-disinformation bill alarms groups

Cumpio received the 2026 Wallis Annenberg Justice for Women Journalists Award, an annual recognition given to journalists who were imprisoned in line with their work. She was also recognized as Asia’s honorable mention from the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in their annual Press Freedom Awards.

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) earlier said that these recognitions serve as another rejection of the accusations made by the state against the Tacloban-based journalist.

Cumpio, executive director of Eastern Vista, was part of the Tacloban 5 arrested in simultaneous raids in Tacloban City in February 2020.

Of all the charges filed against her, she was convicted, together with church worker Marielle Domequil, for allegedly financing the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Their lawyers already filed a notice before a Tacloban court that they were appealing the conviction to the Court of Appeals. (DAA)

Disclosure: Bulatlat’s editor-in-chief, Ronalyn Olea, is secretary-general of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines

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The groups condemned the slow-moving justice system, and Veloso’s continued detention in the country, despite her recognized status as a victim of human trafficking.

By Richardson Tubo
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – After 11 years of stalled litigation, Mary Jane Veloso testified inside the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) as a victim of human trafficking in front of a judge on Friday, June 19.

Family, progressive and church groups gathered on Correctional Road, Mandaluyong City for the historic moment of Veloso’s first attestation since the filing of the three cases of human trafficking, illegal recruitment and criminal fraud against recruiters Kristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao.

The filed case in 2015 was a legal strategy to save Veloso from the death row for drug smuggling, officially protecting her as a witness in the regional trial court, said Migrante International Chairperson Joanna Concepcion. 

“She is now ready to narrate how she was preyed upon by Kristina and Julius, tricked by the promise of a job as a domestic helper in Malaysia but was arrested in Indonesia and sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug smuggling,” Concepcion said in Filipino. 

Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Sarah Elago said the attestation is a long-overdue opportunity for Veloso to obtain justice and hold her illegal recruiters accountable.

She said that Filipino migrant workers will remain at risk of abuse, exploitation and trafficking if the Philippines continues to have low wages and a lack of decent jobs.

“As long as the root of imperative migration remains unresolved, migrant Filipino workers will continue to be at risk,” Elago said in a press statement.

The groups condemned the slow-moving justice system, and Veloso’s continued detention in the country, despite her recognized status as a victim of human trafficking.

“It is unjust that she [Veloso] is still detained in her own country. While her family is already caged by poverty, she continues to be trapped by injustice in CIW,” Concepcion said.

In November 2025, lawyers and parents of Veloso petitioned the Supreme Court to resolve the motion for a writ of habeas corpus. Concepcion said that the said petition challenges her detention due to the lack of published files of the transfer agreement between Indonesia and Philippines.

Read: Lawyers, parents of Mary Jane Veloso urge SC to act on habeas corpus petition 

However, back-and-forth petitions from the detainee and recruiters hampered the judicial process, stretching up to 11 years.

Protesters and family alike conducted a snake rally and noise barrage on June 19, urging Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to grant Veloso unconditional freedom and clemency.

Caesar Veloso expressed his gratitude to his daughter’s supporters. 

MJ’s mother Celia said, “I hope that I can still be with my daughter before I pass on. I long to take care of my daughter — to be with her. That is why I am asking for the President to please grant my daughter her freedom.” (AMU, RVO)

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“The people were forced to leave their homes and livelihoods to accommodate military operations that do not serve their interests.”

CABUYAO CITY, Laguna – The temporary evacuation of residents from Sitio Mainit, Barangay Balogo, Pasacao, Camarines Sur to make way for live-fire military exercises under the Kasangga 2026 war games has drawn condemnation from peasant and human rights organizations, which said the operation sacrificed civilian welfare in favor of expanding military cooperation with foreign forces.

According to Kilusang Magbubukid ng Bicol (KMB), families were relocated to an evacuation center in Barangay Odicon while the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Australian military forces conducted live-fire exercises using heavy weapons and live ammunition in the area. Fishing activities and access to nearby waters were likewise suspended during the military drills, disrupting the primary source of livelihood of local fisherfolk.

For peasant group, the military exercises have brought hardship rather than security to communities in Pasacao.

“The people were forced to leave their homes and livelihoods to accommodate military operations that do not serve their interests,” the group was quoted in a statement released on June 18.

KMB said farmers, fisherfolk, vendors, transport workers, and employees of small resorts lost income due to the suspension of economic activities during the exercise. The organization called for immediate compensation for all affected residents whose livelihoods were disrupted by the military operation.

The group also criticized what it described as the government’s prioritization of military spending over social services, arguing that resources devoted to military exercises should instead be allocated to agriculture, health care, and education.

Beyond economic losses, KMB expressed concern over the possible environmental effects of the live-fire exercises, alleging that explosions and gunfire disturbed marine ecosystems and fish breeding grounds while causing anxiety among nearby residents because of the intensity of the bombardment.

Meanwhile, Defend Bicol: Stop the Attacks Network described the evacuation as another manifestation of the militarization of civilian communities in the region.

In its statement, the network said the displacement of residents illustrated how communities have become sites for military operations, forcing civilians to bear the consequences through evacuation, interrupted livelihoods, and insecurity.

The group argued that the Kasangga exercises form part of the Philippines’ expanding military cooperation with foreign forces, warning that such activities expose local communities to the consequences of intensifying geopolitical tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.

Defend Bicol called on the Commission on Human Rights and other concerned agencies to conduct an independent investigation into the reported displacement of residents and determine whether their rights were violated during the conduct of the military exercise.

The alliance likewise urged the government to halt military exercises that result in forced evacuations and livelihood disruption, emphasizing that civilian communities should not be transformed into training grounds for war games.

As government officials describe the exercises as measures to strengthen defense cooperation and national security, local organizations insist that genuine security cannot be achieved by displacing communities and undermining the rights and livelihoods of the very people the state claims to protect. (RTS, RVO)

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