MANILA – Progressive groups called for the junking of estafa, unjust vexation and maltreatment cases filed against indigenous rights advocate Niezel Velasco at a Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court (QC-MTC).

The Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (Katribu), Bai Indigenous Women’s Network, Siklab Philippine Indigenous Youth Network, Sandugo – Movement of Moro and Indigenous Peoples for Self-Determination, Bayan Muna Partylist, and Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment held a protest action in Quezon City on Monday, June 23, saying the charges against Velasco are baseless. 

Velasco was the former project officer of the Bread for Emergency Assistance and Development (BREAD), a disaster response organization. 

She provided emergency assistance and services to the Lumad indigenous peoples in Caraga, Mindanao, prior to the filing of charges against her.

Bai Indigenous Women’s Network coordinator Kakay Tolentino said Velasco is a victim of injustice from the “false charges.” 

“Niezel served in Lumad communities and delivered aid during times of calamity. The government, which has the primary responsibility to help victims, is negligent of its duties that she helped fulfill,” Tolentino said.

Velasco, along with Julieta Gomez, a Lumad-Manobo woman leader and a council member of Kahugpungan sa mga Lumadnong Organisasyon sa Caraga (KASALO Caraga), was arrested on July 16, 2021 after joint police and military units raided their house in Quezon City at 1:30 a.m. 

They were charged with murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms and explosives and were detained for almost four years. 

Their charges were eventually dismissed due to lack of evidence and were acquitted on April 8. 

The murder and attempted murder charges were dismissed by a court in Agusan del Sur in 2022 and 2023 respectively. 

Read: Activists arrested in Quezon City are humanitarian workers – group

However, lawyers of Velasco discovered that she is still facing charges of estafa, unjust vexation and maltreatment filed at the Antipolo Municipal Trial Court, which has been transferred to the QC-MTC.

These charges were filed against a certain “Mary Jane Velasco”, of which Niezel has no connection to.

Funa-ay Claver, spokesperson of Katribu, said in a statement they are demanding justice for the almost four years of imprisonment of Velasco and Gomez as well as the new charges against them.

“The state’s desperation to silence rights defenders is blatant. But our fight to have the fabricated cases dismissed will never stop,” Claver said.

“Drop the trumped-up charges against Niezel Velasco! Hold the (former president) Duterte administration accountable for human rights violations, and make (President) Bongbong Marcos accountable for continuing them!” Claver added. 

The Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment said the trumped-up charges are part of the state’s systemic attacks on IP rights defenders.

“In the eyes of the Marcos Jr. administration, people like Niezel are a nuisance because they do not bow down or grovel to the interests of bureaucrat-capitalists and foreign corporations that continue to exploit our natural resources,” Cathleen De Guzman of Kalikasan said. 

Ephin Falyao of Siklab Indigenous Youth Network pointed out that the trumped-up charges serve nothing more than to suppress the fight for the indigenous peoples’ right to freedom, justice, and self-determination. 

“When we defend our right to ancestral land, they lose control and power,” he said. # (RTS, AMU, RBV)