The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) welcomes the decision of the Taguig Regional Trial Court acquitting five activists known as “Sta. Cruz 5” of trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The acquittal is yet another proof that the government has been attacking activists using planted evidence and fabricated cases that must be junked by the courts immediately.

In a decision dated 06 August 2025, Presiding Judge Bernardo Pineda Bernal of the Branch 70, Taguig City of the National Capital Judicial Region cited “significant lapses in evidentiary trail” in the case and said that the court “finds that reasonable doubt exists as to the identity, integrity and admissibility of the firearms and explosives in question.”

The five activists, called “Sta. Cruz 5” after the town in Laguna where they were arrested on October 15, 2018, were charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives. Labor groups and progressive organizations have claimed that their arrest and detention stemmed from evidence that were planted by police and military operatives while they were lying face down along a highway.

Today, the courts acquitted Adelberto Silva, a consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) on labor reforms; Hedda Calderon, social worker and member of Gabriela Women’s Party; Edisel Legaspi, a farmer of organic produce; Ireneo Atadero, an organizer of national labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU); and Julio Lusania, their driver and companion.

The court decision is a victory of the Filipino workers and people, progressive organizations and the mass movement in the country, and the lawyers and supporters of the Sta. Cruz 5. It shows that the country’s courts, however belatedly, can end the human rights violation and injustice inflicted on activists in the country.

We demand that the junking of the charges mean the immediate release from prison of Legaspi and Atadero, as Calderon has already been released earlier. The acquittal also exposes the other charges faced by Silva and Legaspi as fabricated and therefore also need to be junked. Their imprisonment for almost seven years is a human rights violation and an injustice that must be rectified immediately.

The acquittal of the Sta. Cruz 5 should be followed by the acquittal of other political prisoners from the labor movement and all political prisoners who face the same modus operandi of trumped-up charges and planted evidence. It exposes the government policy, especially under the Rodrigo Duterte presidency, of imprisoning activists through these means.

The acquittal is another indictment of the government’s counter-insurgency body, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) which masterminded and implemented the arrest of activists especially under the Duterte regime. We condemn President Ferdinand Marcos Jr for refusing to abolish and continuing to finance this agency which has been condemned for numerous labor and human rights violations in the country.