The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) vehemently condemns the arrest of Myrna Cruz-Abraham, a former labor organizer and a veteran activist, based on trumped-up charges of frustrated murder. Her arrest shows that repression of dissent continues under the Ferdinand Marcos Jr government.

Abraham, 69 years old, was arrested by eight Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel in plainclothes at the Massway Supermarket in San Rafael, Bulacan on January 27. At first, the policemen merely asserted that Abraham is facing charges and failed to present documents to prove their claim.

It was only after Abraham was brought to the San Rafael Municipal Police Station that the arrest warrant issued by the Cagayan Regional Trial Court Branch 9 was read to her, and that she and her daughter found out that those who arrested her were elements of the PNP’s Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM).

The Quezon City Police District or QCPD immediately told the media that Abraham is a leading member of the Communist Party of the Philippines or CPP who is operating in Metro Manila and leads the organization’s education work in the region.

Abraham, who currently works for Sandiwa, the national alliance of indigenous and Moro peoples, was a labor organizer. She organized among factory workers and was a member of the Women Industrial Workers Alliance or WIWA, Kilusan ng Manggagawang Kababaihan or KMK, and St. Joseph’s Social Services and Crisis Management Committee-NCR.

The story of Myrna Cruz-Abraham is the story of so many activists in the country. The military files trumped-up charges against activists in the provinces. Courts issue arrest warrants. The activist is imprisoned for years. The trial drags on but the case is ultimately junked. The activist is released from jail but only after years of being prevented from engaging in activism.

Will there be a stop to, or a legal recourse against, this? Currently, there are 26 political prisoners from the labor movement and a total of 763 political prisoners in the country. Most of them were imprisoned using trumped-up charges.

When a country has so many political prisoners, when unarmed activists are imprisoned using trumped-up charges, and their imprisonment is justified by labelling them as terrorists, the people’s rights to the freedom of expression and freedom of association are violated. When legitimate and peaceful dissent is stifled, democracy is attacked, elites’ hold on power is strengthened, and politicians are enabled to avoid accountability for their crimes .

President Marcos Jr is responsible for arrest and extra-judicial killing of labor and social activists, as well as the continuing imprisonment of political prisoners. We continue to demand that he takes decisive action to stop the arrests and killings and to immediately free political prisoners. Some legal remedy must be created so that activists are not imprisoned due to trumped-up charges or that their imprisonment is shortened drastically.