PRESS RELEASE
August 25, 2023
Environmentalists and environmental defenders have denounced the recent complaints filed by Quezon City police against 14 rallyists who participated in the State of the Nation Address (SONA) protest action last July 24, 2023.
Police filed complaints that alleged that the rallies held in line with the SONA violated BP 880 or the Public Assembly Act of 1985. The environmental groups however said the rallyists are being targeted for their work as human rights and environmental defenders.
“We are alarmed because four out of the 14 persons facing charges are farmers and sugar workers, people we consider to be innately environmental defenders because of the nature of their livelihoods,” said Dr. Jean Lindo, spokesperson of the Environmental Defenders Congress (ENVIDEFCON), a national coalition of environmental defender groups from across the country.
These four defenders include Orly Marcellana from Tanggol Magsasaka; Palo “Ka Pabs” Rosales from Pangisda Pilipinas; Jaysie Balunga from SUGAR–Batangas; and Mario Fernandez from Organized Labor Associations in Line Industries and Agriculture – Kilusang Mayo Uno. The other activists subject to the complaint are union organizers and human rights defenders from the Southern Tagalog region.
“The charges against the SONA rallyists are merely a blatant attempt to hamper the crucial work of environmental defenders,” said Lindo. “Disturbingly, this move follows nearly a decade of relentless attacks against those committed to defending the environment.”
ENVIDEFCON also noted that the Philippines has been recognized internationally as the worst country in Asia for land and environmental defenders, documenting over 270 killings from the period of 2012 – 2021.
“Farmers and sugar workers fighting for land tenure are guardians of their livelihoods, but also of the environment,” said Lia Mai Torres, Executive Director of the Center for Environmental Concerns. “They are environmental defenders who cultivate not just land but a sustainable future for all Filipinos.”
In addition to the 14 targeted rallyists, police also filed cases against artist Max Santiago and three others involved in the production and burning of an effigy during the SONA protests. According to the complaint, the burning of the effigy violated the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, a nationwide coalition of different community-based and sectoral organizations, condemned the complaint in a statement, stating that this amounted to “the weaponization of the law against freedom of expression.”
“If the state is serious about clamping down on pollution, it should instead go after the major polluters — the companies and corporations behind massive plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in our country, as well as their backers in the Marcos Jr. administration,” Kalikasan PNE said. #
