GENEVA, Switzerland—The Philippine UPR (Universal Periodic Review) Watch condemned the prevention of the participation of two military abduction victims in the 55th regular session of United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in this city, calling the government’s filing of additional charges against Jhed Tamano and Jonila Castro a deliberate attempt at preventing them from telling the world of their ordeal.

Scheduled to deliver oral interventions at the general debates by the UNHRC on March 13, Tamano and Castro were forced to forego their trip to attend court hearings in connection with the new grave defamation charges filed against them by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“Jhed and Jonila wanted to deliver oral interventions at the UNHRC general debates as survivors of abduction by the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government that also tried to falsely present them to the public as so-called rebel surrenderees,” Karapatan legal counsel and Philippine UPR Watch delegate Atty. Ma. Sol Taule said.

Castro and Tamano were also scheduled to speak at various regular session side events at the UN as well as in various other countries throughout Europe in the coming weeks.

“Both survivors had already secured travel visas but were forced to cancel when the DOJ and 70th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army’s 7th Infantry Division filed new trumped up charges against them,” Taule added.

Castro and Tamano each posted bail last February 21 at the Dona Remedios Trinidad Municipal Trial Court in Bulacan on charges that they used the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict-organized press conference last September 19 in Plaridel town to “defame” the government.

In January, the DOJ dismissed perjury charges against the victims but recommended the filing of the new charges. Taule said it was a deliberate move to elevate criminal proceedings to the level of the courts and make like difficult for Castro and Tamano. “That is not prosecution but political persecution,” Taule added.

In a statement, Castro and Tamano said the DOJ is in collusion with the NTF-ELCAC and the Armed Forces of the Philippines in telling the courts a “patchwork” of stories to save face and cover up its practice of abduction and presentation of fake surrenderees.

“This decision proved that our questioning of the DOJ’s capability to conduct fair investigations was correct, adding the department conveniently ignored the fact that they were kidnapped and coerced into surrendering and admitting that they were members of Communist groups,” they said.

The Philippine UPR Watch said their delegation in the UNHRC regular session shall nonetheless present Castro and Tamano’s case in oral interventions, side events and dialogues with permanent missions of UN member states as well as officials of international civil society organizations.

“If the government thinks that it could cover up its abductions and other human rights violations by preventing Jhed and Jonila from personally telling their ordeal to the world, it is mistaken,” Center for Environmental Concerns executive director Lia Mai Torres said.

Torres added that foreign governments are very interested in knowing more about the case of the two young environmental defenders who bravely revealed their ordeal in front of their abductors.

“The case of Jhed and Jonila helps reveal that human rights situation is no better under Marcos Jr. and environmental defenders are among the victims,” Torres said.

A network of human rights groups, churches, and people’s organizations, the Philippine UPR Watch is an active participant in UNHRC sessions through oral interventions, forums, dialogues and reports on the state of human rights in the Philippines. #