Church group slams arrest of General Santos volunteers, workers

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — The Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) has cried foul over the arrest of more than a dozen of its volunteers and development workers as well as members of militant groups in General Santos City on Wednesday night.

Among those arrested were Aldeem Yañez, an IFI worker and secretariat member of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform and Sowing the Seeds of Peace in Mindanao; Teresita Naul of human rights group Karapatan; Kristine Cabardo, regional chairperson of the League of Filipino Students; Vennel Chenfoo, chairman of the Kabataan party-list in Mindanao; Ireneo Udarbe, chairman of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, and Datu Jomorito Goaynon, regional leader of the Kalumbay Lumad Organization.

IFI Bishop Felixberto Calang said the arrests were made at the Mother Francisca spiritual center in Barangay Lagao during a project assessment of the IFI Visayas-Mindanao Regional Office Integrated Development (VIMROD) program.

“Why were they arrested when their names were not on the arrest warrant?” Calang asked.

He said some staff of IFI-VIMROD were also handcuffed.

Calang said the arrests were a “persecution of those who have expressed their dissent against the anti-poor, anti-people policies of the government.”

Prior to the incident, he said six female members of the Organisasyon sa Yanong Obrerong Nagkahiusa of Pangantucan, Bukidnon were also arrested. 

“The arrest of rights defenders and development workers in Mindanao is a testament to the absence of respect for human and people’s rights under Duterte’s martial law in Mindanao. Civilians, including activists and church workers, are being victimized while government and military officials trumpet their false claims that there are no human rights abuses,”  Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay said.