The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) vehemently condemns the conviction for child abuse of activism legend Satur Ocampo, Rep. Teacher France Castro, eight teachers of a Lumad school and three volunteers, collectively known as “Talaingod 13,” by a Tagum City court this month.

The unjust conviction of the 13 activists further exposes the weaponization of the country’s courts by the government, the military and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in harassing and repressing activists who struggle for human rights.

It is clear for anyone who has eyes and ears that what transpired in Talaingod in November 2018 was a humanitarian rescue effort, not a case of kidnapping or child abuse. The 13 defendants risked their lives and safety to help students who were being threatened with violence and even death by paramilitary group Alamara. They should be praised and honored for their actions, not persecuted.

It is important to remember that Alamara was emboldened by statements of former President Rodrigo Duterte and the NTF-ELCAC and by actions of the military against Lumad schools. In July 2017, Duterte threatened nothing less than bombing these schools, which embody Lumad community efforts to provide education for their youths in the absence of government services.

While the attacks on Lumad schools and the filing of charges against the Talaingod 13 all happened during Duterte’s presidency, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has not lifted a finger to correct the injustices against the Lumad and their schools and junk the trumped-up charges filed against the Talaingod 13. Marcos Jr is currently presiding over, and allowing, the weaponization of the courts against human rights defenders.

The weaponization of the courts against the Talaingod 13 bears a striking resemblance to the plight of the 22 political prisoners from the labor movement and the total 745 political prisoners in the country. While most of the fabricated charges against the political prisoners were filed under Duterte’s behest, political prisoners continue to be detained because of the snail pace of the country’s courts –making them instruments of injustice, rather than justice.

CTUHR calls for the immediate reversal of the conviction of the Talaingod 13. We also call on Marcos Jr to get himself directly involved in the human rights situation in the country. He should take proactive steps to junk trumped-up charges against human rights defenders and stop the weaponization of the country’s courts against activists. His platitudes about human rights and democracy are hypocritical because labor and human rights defenders on the ground continue to face various forms of government and military persecution.