By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
MANILA – Human rights group Karapatan slammed the recent arrests of activists, saying that crackdown on dissent is rapidly escalating.
Karapatan cited the series of arrests of leaders of people’s organizations in Caraga region, a barangay captain in Cagayan Valley and peasant leaders and human rights workers in Bohol.
Cristina Palabay, Karapatan’s secretary general said these arrests were “clearly devilish legal machinations being orchestrated by the rabid sycophants of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).”
In Mindanao region, 72 years old Isaias “Tatay Ising” Genorga, PISTON-Butuan City spokesperson, was arrested on Feb. 5 in barangay Doongan, Butuan City.