Possession of firearms raps hounding activists, says Karapatan

Hundreds of activists in the Philippines are facing charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, with the latest arrests made in a wave of police operations on International Human Rights Day.

Six trade unionists and a journalist with the progressive online news outlet Manila Today were arrested throughout Metro Manila on Thursday. Earlier this month, activist Amanda Echanis was arrested in Cagayan.

According to human rights watchdog Karapatan, most of over 600 "political prisoners" face "fabricated" charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

The group said 426 were arrested during the Duterte administration.

In cases like these, police usually justify warrantless arrests by saying they recovered firearms and explosives in court-authorized searches. Activists used to such allegations have constantly countered that the guns and grenades were planted during late-night or early-morning raids.

Human rights lawyer Edre Olalia, president of the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers which represents many detained activists, said there were various reasons why firearms possession is the usual charge against their clients.

For one, he said the police and military can secure search warrants by going through the process and presenting supposed witnesses who can claim weapons are with those targeted for arrest.

Olalia said it is easy for officers to plant weapons especially under cover of darkness and when the "arrested persons are first segregated, controlled or neutralized and have no chance to prevent or witness such anomaly."

When cases are filed, the detainees would have to overcome the "presumption of regularity" in police operations. And because the charge is not bailable, they would still have to go through hearings for the judge to determine whether they can be granted bail, he said.

The lawyer said the supposed discovery of guns and explosives activists' homes fit into the state's "false political narrative" that legal activists are linked to the armed communist insurgency and are therefore "terrorists."

"It demonizes legal activists as plain criminals who are armed and dangerous and not fighting for a legitimate cause and issues of public interest through non-armed means and fora," he said.

"It sends a clear message of threat and intimidation that you can always be next any time," he added.

But at the same time, all the arrests and supposedly confiscated weapons show that police are "incompetent, inutile, and ineffective" in keeping peace and order, he said.

"The authorities don't bloody care because they believe they are invincible and so they do it with impunity as they almost always get away with it," Olalia said.

The House of Representatives' Makabayan bloc, itself accused of communist links by state officials, said President Rodrigo Duterte's statements against his critics are "prelude to more vicious criminal offenses against activists."

"We can only expect there to be more as Duterte aims to extend his tyrannical rule beyond 2022. But we will not be silenced nor will we cower in fear," the Makabayan bloc said in a statement Friday. -NB, GMA News