‘Mayo Uno 6’ protesters released from detention

MANILA, Philippines — The six activists arrested during a Labor Day protest in front of the United States Embassy were released on Tuesday evening, after almost a week of detention.

This comes a day after the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 18 granted their petition to bail on Monday.

The six activists were charged with illegal assembly under Batas Pambansa 880 and direct assault under the Revised Penal Code. 

Each activist was granted bail totaling P42,000: P6,000 for illegal assembly and P36,000 for direct assault. This brings the total bail amount for all activists to P252,000.

Four of those arrested are students of the University of the Philippines, while the remaining two are youth activists from Anakbayan Caloocan, according to several reports. 

Under Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code, individuals arrested without a warrant must be presented before the court and formally charged within 36 hours.

Following the arrest, the actvists should have been charged immediately during the inquest proceedings on May 2.

According to the lawyer of the activists, Jess Ramirez, the prosecution has not yet issued a resolution following the inquest proceedings, as reported by Manila Today.

On May 3, Ramirez filed an urgent petition for bail.

The hearing was rescheduled on Monday morning due to the absence of a prosecutor to comment on their filed petition.

The Makabayan bloc and other progressive groups previously condemned the detention of the activists as they have stayed in prison without a charge for almost a week.

“We maintain that their arrest and detainment is unjust. The protest was peaceful until police escalated the situation by hitting protesters with shields and batons until they were arrested,” Kilusang Mayo Uno said in a Tuesday statement.