PANAY Alliance Karapatan welcomes the release of development worker and MIGRANTE coordinator Josephine Porquia following the dismissal of trumped-up charges of illegal possession of explosives filed by the Philippine National Police (PNP), and calls for the dismissal of the remaining trumped-up charges against her.
Porquia was arrested by the PNP and the Philippine Army on April 2, 2026 in Pavia, Iloilo using a 2012 warrant for rebellion issued by the Regional Trial Court of Mambusao, Capiz in connection to an armed encounter between the Philippine Army and the New People’s Army that occurred in Tapaz, Capiz back in August 2011. The warrant does not mention Porquia’s name but refers only to an alias. The police then filed additional trumped-up charges of illegal possession of explosives against her which were heard by the Regional Trial Court of Iloilo City.
Panay Alliance Karapatan condemns the Philippine Army’s practice of filing trumped-up cases against human rights advocates and activists, including senior citizens, falsely implicating them in clashes between rebels and security forces.
In the past, similar charges were filed against Maria Cabales, a senior citizen and organizer of the party-list Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) in Panay, and Elisa Lubi, then national chairperson of KARAPATAN, who was already in her 70s when the Philippine Army accused her of taking part in an NPA ambush against government troops.
The use of arrest warrants containing aliases is likewise deplorable as these are abused by security forces to arrest any person they target.
Bringing trumped-up charges of illegal possession of explosives to indefinitely detain activists and human rights defenders is also a preferred modus for security forces because of the non-bailable nature of the case and the ease with which these items could be planted during the arrest.
Represented by the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, Porquia filed pre-trial motions seeking the dismissal of the cases against her. The Iloilo City RTC granted her motion, holding that the arrest was illegal and declaring the explosives allegedly recovered inadmissible in court.
Porquia still faces the trumped-up rebellion charge before the Mambusao RTC. She joins the ranks of other local activists, like Elmer Forro of multisectoral alliance BAYAN – Panay and political prisoner Lenilyn Jaynos of the women’s advocacy group GABRIELA, who continue to be persecuted through baseless accusations levied against them by security forces.
Josephine Porquia is the widow of slain activist, environmental advocate and Bayan Muna coordinator Jory Porquia, who was shot and killed by multiple gunmen on April 30, 2020 after being subjected to intense red-tagging and police surveillance. To this day none of the perpetrators has been held accountable for Jory’s murder.
Their son, Lean Porquia, a labor leader and former President of the BPO Industry Employees Network (BIEN), has long been the target of a red-tagging campaign and is himself a victim of trumped-up charges filed by the Department of Justice in connection to his membership in the League of Filipino Students, a campus-based organization falsely accused of being a “front” of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Domestic and international human rights advocates have called on the government to stop the red-tagging of activists, noting that the victims become targets of other forms of attack. Irene Khan, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, described the practice as a “serious threat to civil society.”
Khan pointed to the “considerable evidence that red-tagging is being used by the security forces” and described how “the military, state security officials, senior government officials and some media outlets have also engaged in red-tagging.”
The experiences of the Porquia family only highlight that, for many of the victims, red-tagging is accompanied by other serious human rights violations such as extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, and persecution through trumped-up charges.
Panay Alliance Karapatan demands that that the government drop the remaining trumped-up charges against Josephine Porquia, investigate and punish those responsible for the killing of Jory Porquia, and cease the red-tagging and the weaponization of law against progressive organizations and civil society actors. — PANAY ALLIANCE KARAPATAN <panaykarapatan@gmail.com>
