PRESS RELEASE
19 December 2023
Green group decries trumped-up charges against Cebu-based anti-reclamation advocate
Environmental group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) denounced the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) use of fabricated charges against Cebu-based anti-reclamation advocate John Ruiz III, citing this as a “clear case of the weaponization of the law against environmental defenders.”
Along with development worker Jhonggie Rumol of the Visayas Institute for Human Development Agency Inc, Ruiz was charged with frustrated homicide by the AFP, accusing the two of being involved in an armed encounter of the AFP and the New People’s Army last April 6, 2023.
“The attack against John Ruiz III is grossly unfounded and is clearly a directed attack against his person in light of his participation in pro-people, pro-environment campaigns,” said Jon Bonifacio, national coordinator of Kalikasan PNE. “His participation in anti-reclamation campaigns in Minglanilla, Cebu and other parts of the province is testament to this dedication to the cause of protecting our planet.”
Kalikasan PNE noted the increasing number of cases of human rights violations and attacks against anti-reclamation advocates under the Marcos Jr. administration. Citing the abduction case of Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano and the open red-tagging of environmental and human rights groups involved in the anti-reclamation campaign by the National Security Council and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) last September, the group slammed the Marcos Jr. administration for “condoning these attacks against the defenders of coastal ecosystems.”
The Philippines has long been recognized as a dangerous country for land and environmental activists. A 2023 report by international human rights watchdog Global Witness listed the Philippines as the deadliest country in Asia for environmental defenders over the past decade.
“Over the course of his term, Marcos Jr. has said nothing about the continuing human rights crisis faced by environmental defenders in our country,” said Bonifacio. “We must continue our demands to exact accountability from the state institutions behind these attacks, and keep calling for the abolition of institutions like the NTF-ELCAC in the soonest possible time.” #
Contact:
Jon Bonifacio / National Coordinator, Kalikasan PNE
secretariat@kalikasan.net / 0939 913 6943