Judge Monique Quisumbing-Ignacio of Branch 209, in a 10-page decision dated Feb. 5, declared that the search warrant used to enter Salem’s Mandaluyong home is null and void, rendering the firearms and explosives purportedly found in their possession as inadmissible evidence before the court.
“The situation will worsen if we are silent… Now is the time to fight, to speak, and to push for genuine social change.”
By DEE AYROSO
“While there has been no offered evidence of any such links, Philippine officials’ increasing penchant for such “red-tagging” is reckless, irresponsible, and dangerous. When amplified by no less than the highest ranking enforcers of government and the law they inevitably compromise any guarantees of due process.”
“Complainants have been targeted for their critical and independent reporting on issues affecting the marginalized and oppressed sectors. They are being persecuted for publishing progressive and alternative views on matters affecting the Filipino people — progressive ideas that are anathema to the current tyrannical regime.”
“The reason we have peaceful lives is that there are people like Icy who are continuously fighting for our rights.”
“The Icy that we grew up and spent our high school days with — a diligent student, a committed and effective leader, an articulate writer, a skillful athlete, and a loyal and loving friend — could not be further from the gun-wielding terrorist the police is trying to portray.”
“Her abduction, on Human Rights Day no less, is another proof of the dangers of the administration’s vile practice of red-tagging.”
Media workers of an independent audio-visual group decried the harassment by the local police during the violent demolition of an urban-poor community in San Juan, Metro Manila.