Court Clears Three Negros Development Workers of Charges

By Juliane Judilla

The Regional Trial Court Branch 31 in Iloilo dismissed charges against three development workers from a Negros-based non-governmental organization (NGO) on March 14.

Federico Salvilla and Perla Pavillar, staff members of Paghidaet sa Kauswagan Development Group Inc. (PDG), along with Dharyl Albañez of Kristyanong Mangunguma Lubos nga Itib-ong sang Grupo (KMALIG) Inc., were cleared after the court granted their joint motion to quash, citing lack of jurisdiction and failure to constitute an offense.

The three were among four development workers accused of terrorism financing based on complaints filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Dec. 3, 2024. The Philippine National Police Region VI filed the case based on an affidavit from a supposed rebel returnee.

State forces arrested them on Jan. 3, 2025.

Before their arrests, they reported increased harassment and surveillance by state forces after receiving subpoenas.

Initially detained in Cauayan and Pulupandan, Negros Occidental, they were later transferred to Pototan, Iloilo, until their release.

The court also ruled Section 3(e)(1) of Republic Act No. 10168, or the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012, unconstitutional.

The provision states that “any person or entity designated and/or identified as a terrorist… by another jurisdiction or supranational jurisdiction” can be prosecuted.

It defines “designated persons” as individuals or groups labeled as terrorists, terrorism financiers, or terrorist organizations under a United Nations Security Council resolution or by another jurisdiction or supranational body.

Human Rights Advocates Negros (HRAN) welcomed the ruling and urged the public to remain vigilant against political repression under the Marcos Jr. administration.

The group also claimed that laws such as the Anti-Terrorism Law and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act have long been used by the state, particularly through the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), to target activists, human rights defenders, and civil society organizations.

“The Marcos Jr. administration, through the NTF-ELCAC, has weaponized the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act against activists and development workers, now numbering almost 100, using spurious affidavits from ‘rebel returnees,’” HRAN said in a statement.

“Human Rights Advocates Negros reiterates its call to dismiss these trumped-up charges against the two remaining co-accused, as well as others facing similar cases across the country, and to abolish the NTF-ELCAC,” the group added.

PDG continues to push for the dismissal of all charges against two others in the same case, including PDG’s former executive director, Clarissa Ramos, widow of slain human rights lawyer Ben Ramos, and Felipe Gelle Jr., a PDG staff member and head of the Human Rights Alliance of Negros.