On Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s third State of the Nation Address today, July 22, 2024, 193 political prisoners are conducting a nationwide protest fast to call for the immediate release of terminally ill Ernesto Jude Rimando Jr., a labor organizer, and 79-year old Rosita Taboy, the oldest political prisoner in the country.
Ernesto Jude Rimando has been hospitalized for over two months at the Philippine General Hospital due to complications from stage 4 liver cancer. His ailment has been exacerbated by his time in detention, with doctors predicting he has only three months to live.
Rosita Taboy is battling serious health issues including diabetes, kidney disease and glaucoma. Her husband, Antonio Legaspi, who was arrested with her on May 26, 2023, tragically suffered a heart attack and died on April 19, 2024, less than a year after their arrest in their home in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.
Rosita has not seen her husband since they were forcibly separated and she only learned of his death at a BJMP facility in Catbalogan where she was brought. The charges against her in Catbalogan have since been dismissed, and by next week, she will be transferred to a jail in San Jose del Monte to face the trumped-up cases of illegal possession of firearms and explosive she and her husband have been charged with on the basis of evidence planted by the raiding team.
At the time of their arrest, Rosita’s husband Antonio, 74, was also in poor health. Despite his frail physical condition, jail authorities at the SJDM Male Dormitory kept him in solitary confinement, never letting him out of his cell for sunning, exercise or socialization, in violation of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. No doubt, such inhumane treatment contributed to his death.
Rimando and Taboy are among 90 political prisoners currently ailing, with Taboy also being one of 102 elderly detainees, out of a total of 755 political prisoners nationwide.
Since the Marcos administration began, five ailing political prisoners have died in custody–Antonio Legaspi, Generoso Granado Jr. (March 7, 2024), Roy dela Cruz (January 27, 2024), Marcos Villareal (December 3, 2023) and Cristina Miguel (November 20, 2023). During the Duterte administration, 11 political prisoners died in prison.
The political prisoners also called for the repeal of the twin terror laws – the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Terrorist Financing Prevention and Suppression Act – which are increasingly used to arbitrarily arrest and detain progressives and ordinary folks.
Former political prisoners of the Samahan ng Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) expressed solidarity with the political prisoners conducting their protest fast today, as SELDA members will march with various people’s organizations to air the People’s State of the Nation.
