The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) celebrates the decision of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 81 in Romblon dismissing the cases of illegal possession of firearms and explosives against the Romblon 4, labor activists who were arrested on June 3, 2021 in Concepcion, Romblon.

At the same time, we condemn the continued imprisonment of the Romblon 4 – namely labor activists Teresa Dioquino, Marlon Torres, Benny Hilamon and Nolan Ramos – and their transfer to a jail in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro on the basis of cases of multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder, the court documents for which do not bear their names.

In a ruling dated November 14, 2024, Acting Presiding Judge Donna B. Pascual of RTC Branch 81 dismissed the cases against the Romblon 4, citing insufficiency of evidence. The four labor activists were not carrying any firearms or explosives when they were arrested, as they were riding a small boat to transfer to another island and were forced to dock on the coast of Romblon by a typhoon at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Judge Pascual ordered the Romblon 4’s release from prison, the labor activists were ordered to be transferred to another jail on the basis of cases filed by Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Roberto B. Santos in April 2022. The cases bore the names of 12 individuals, but not the names of the Romblon 4.

We have every reason to believe that the cases of multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder, filed almost one year after the Romblon 4’s arrest, are trumped-up charges that make it appear that the labor activists were present in the May 2021 incidents on which the cases were based. We believe that these cases were filed with the goal of keeping the Romblon 4 in jail.

Dioquino is a long-term labor activist, serving as national labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno’s (KMU, May First Movement) vice chairperson for international affairs for many years. Torres is also a long-standing labor activist, working for the Pagkakaisa ng mga Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan or Pamantik, KMU’s regional formation in the Southern Tagalog region. Hilamon and Ramos have been serving as grassroots labor and community organizers for many years.

We decry this persecution of labor activists through the weaponization of the law. The Romblon 4 did not carry firearms and explosives when they were arrested in 2021, yet they have been in prison for more than three years now. The evidence that were used against them were planted by police officers in accordance with the Rodrigo Duterte regime’s playbook against activists. No less than the Romblon RTC has established this.

We condemn the Philippine government for keeping the Romblon 4 and other political prisoners in jail. We urge the courts and the entire judiciary to ensure that the rights violations and injustices being inflicted on labor and social activists be stopped immediately. We call on international workers’ formations and organizations to investigate and condemn this yet another instance of criminalization of labor activism in the Philippines.