“It took four years for Ge-ann to be acquitted of all the charges against her, involving a ridiculous trove of firearms and explosives that bear the usual telltale marks of planted evidence. But the unfunny thing is, Frank Fernandez and Cleofe Lagtapon were convicted for the same charges in what is one of the most frequently reset promulgations of judgment that is also most highly questionable which their lawyers will appeal.”

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – A woman political prisoner was released from prison after Taguig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 266 junked all the charges against her.

On June 30, Ge-Ann Perez, finally walked out of the Taguig City Jail Female Dorm. She was welcomed by Kapatid, a support group of families and friends of political prisoners.

Perez is the companion of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant Frank Fernandez and his wife Cleofe Lagtapon when they were arrested in March 2019 in Laguna while seeking medical treatment. The Taguig Regional Trial Court convicted the couple of charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives on June 29.

“For Kapatid, nothing brings us more happiness than having political prisoners released. So wait we did in the muddy grounds and falling darkness. Around 7 p.m., we saw a beaming Ge-ann walk out of the steel gates. Hugs, cheers plus not a few tears greeted one of the youngest political prisoners whom we campaigned hard for release here and overseas,” said Kapatid Spokesperson Fides Lim in a Facebook post.

Perez was 20 years old when she was arrested. She is suffering from leprosy and was also one of the 22 petitioners in Kapatid’s plea to the Supreme Court to release sick and elderly political prisoners at the height of the Covid-19 infection in April 2020. However, the said petition was remanded to the lower courts.

Read: SC urged to release sick, elderly political prisoners amid COVID-19 
Read: Death of political prisoners alarms families 
Read: Taguig Court convicts NDFP’s Frank Fernandez, wife Cleofe Lagtapon of illegal gun possession 

“It took four years for Ge-ann to be acquitted of all the charges against her, involving a ridiculous trove of firearms and explosives that bear the usual telltale marks of planted evidence. But the unfunny thing is, Frank Fernandez and Cleofe Lagtapon were convicted for the same charges in what is one of the most frequently reset promulgations of judgment that is also most highly questionable which their lawyers will appeal,” Lim said.

Lim said Perez plans to have her long-delayed check up before going back to Cebu. “She hopes to finish her last K-12 year and become a teacher,” Lim said.

JASIG still in effect

Meanwhile, amid the conviction of Fernandez and Lagtapon, the NDFP asserted that the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) “remains in full force and effect unless otherwise terminated according to the terms of the agreement.”

“The recent ‘conviction’ of peace consultants Frank Fernandez and his wife Cleofe Lagtapon based on trumped-up charges concocted by the Manila government further exposes the US-Marcos regime’s indifference to the cause of peace,” de Lima said in a statement.

She added that “planting of weapons and explosives on arrested persons is a well-known modus operandi of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police. This practice allows them to file non-bailable charges to hold forces of the revolutionary movement in prison.”

De Lima said that the continued incarceration of Fernandez and Lagtapon and other consultants of the NDFP is an outstanding violation of JASIG, “duly approved by respective principals of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the NDFP. The JASIG safeguards participants in the peace negotiations from surveillance, arrest, detention, prosecution, or any other similar punitive actions.”

The JASIG was signed by both the NDFP and the Philippine government panels in April 1995.

“The abduction, killing, disappearance, illegal arrest, and torture of NDFP peace consultants expose the brutal character of the US-Marcos regime, its rabid obsession for war and patent disregard of obligations to implement existing agreements,” de Lima said.

The NDFP demanded the release of Fernandez and Lagtapon, as well as other detained NDFP peace consultants “as a matter of humanitarian and moral obligation of the GRP and in line with the principles enshrined in JASIG and international humanitarian law.” (JJE, RVO)