Arrest of Karapatan Davao’s former leader slammed

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The former secretary general of Karapatan Southern Mindanao, Jay Apiag, was arrested by police on Tuesday afternoon, August 13 in Digos City and transferred later to Davao City on Wednesday on warrants for attempted murder which his group claims are “trumped-up charges”.

Details provided by Karapatan Southern Mindanao said Apiag was onboard his classmate’s vehicle to attend their law classes in Cor Jesu College School of Law when members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Digos stopped them and served a warrant of arrest for double attempted murder filed at the Digos City Regional Trial Court Branch 61.

But Apiag was later taken by PNP officers Buhangin who presented another arrest warrant for attempted murder issued by the Davao City Regional Trial Court Branch 52. Earlier, Apiag had already been processed for detention and had been brought for medical check-up.

Apiag was brought and detained at the Buhangin Police Station on August 14 at around 8 pm. 

There are still no details on the cases filed against Apiag. But last March 2021, Apiag and Karapatan national chairperson Elisa Lubi appealed to a Davao City court through their lawyers to recall arrest warrants and reinvestigate charges against them for their alleged involvement in an armed encounter in Paquibato District in Davao in May 2018.

Apiag was among those included in a “wanted” poster spread in Davao City in 2020 that vilified him and other local activists as members of the New People’s Army.

Apiag was Karapatan Southern Mindanao’s secretary general from 2017 to 2021 before he stepped down to pursue his law studies. Prior to this, he was a paralegal of Kawagib Moro Human Rights Organization in Cotabato City from 2008 to 2011 and the coordinator of Karapatan North Cotabato in 2012. He was a campus journalist and coordinator of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines Greater Cotabato area.

Karapatan Southern Mindanao in a statement condemned Apiag’s arrest as another instance of state repression against human rights defenders.

“This despicable policy and practice of filing trumped-up charges against rights defenders in an attempt to silence them should stop,” the statement read.

Bayan Muna Partylist Southern Mindanao also condemned the arrest and urged the government to uphold Apiag’s right to due process.

“Jay’s arrest, the enforced disappearance of labor organizer William Lariosa last April 2024, and the continued red-tagging and intimidation of local activists are manifestations of the shrinking democratic space here in Davao and across Mindanao. These incidents stem from the Duterte regime’s all-out scheme of political vilification and the current Marcos administration’s continuance of Duterte’s draconian policies such as Executive Order 70, Anti-Terrorism Law, etc.,” said Rauf Sissay, regional coordinator of Bayan Muna – Southern Mindanao. (davaotoday.com)