Union leaders' kin urge DOJ to drop charges

MANILA, Philippines - Protesters on Monday trooped to the main office of the Department of Justice in Manila to call on the government to drop the charges against two union leaders apprehended recently by authorities.

Coinciding with the celebration of International Human Rights Day,  relatives of union organizers Roy Velez and Amelita Gamara picketed the DOJ office in Padre Faura, Manila called for the immediate withdrawal of the cases filed against the two.

The protesters claimed that Velez and Gamara together with 30 others were filed with trumped-up charges of five counts of murder, one count of frustrated murder and theft.

The charges stemmed from an ambush of an army detachment in Brgy. Maot, Labo, Camarines Norte carried out by the New People’s Army last April 29.

The protesters said the filing of the charges were seen as akin to the tactic of the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (formed during former President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo’s term) when legal mass activists faced fake charges in order to curtail their activities in the protest movement.

The families are expected to burn enlarged copies of the warrant of arrest.

After the short program, protesters will join the giant rally in Mendiola. - Dennis Carcamo