MANILA – Behind bars, political prisoners found a way to document their lives, struggles, and aspirations.
This book entitled, “Pansamantalang Mundo” (Temporary World) was launched on Saturday, July 18, alongside the launch of LAYA, a national and international campaign calling for the immediate release of political prisoners in the Philippines.
“Recorded in this book is the free thought, feeling, and creativity of political prisoners whom the state has tried to silence,” said Chingbee Cruz of Paper Trail Projects, the publisher of the book, in Filipino. “This book is a firm refusal to the state’s deliberate erasure of a reasoned action in pursuit of a just society.”
“Pansamantalang Mundo” book published by Paper Trail Projects, in partnership with Karapatan. Photo by Dominic Gutoman/Bulatlat.
The compilation is a product of almost two years of jail visits and writing workshops at the Correctional Institute for Women (CIW). The learning has been reciprocal: the publishers also learned about the conditions not only of political prisoners but of other persons deprived of liberty (PDL) inside the facility.
“We learned so much, including the daily indignities they experienced. Due to lack of spaces and beds, the floor and hallways become the sleeping quarters for those in detention. When even a passageway is designated as a resting place, even sleep and rest are denied to those stripped of their freedom,” Cruz added.
July 18 also marks the Nelson Mandela International Day, observed in honor of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, whose legacy is rooted in the fight for human rights, equality and social justice. The UN adopted in December 2015 the Nelson Mandela Rules or the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. It is considered the global blueprint for safe, secure, and humane prison management.
“Imprisonment only takes away a person’s physical freedom,” Cruz recalled the words of CIW political prisoners in Filipino. “But it cannot take away the freedom to think, to feel, to speak, to write stories, and to create images that represent what the heart truly feels and what the mind imagines.”
In the Philippines alone, the jail congestion is a problem in ensuring a dignified living for persons deprived of liberty (PDLs). At present, the national congestion rate of facilities supervised and managed by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) is at 294 percent.
Karapatan recorded 560 total number of political prisoners, with 165 arrested under the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Symbolic paper cranes were attached in a steel frame, holding the calls for the freedom of all political prisoners. Photo by Dominic Gutoman/Bulatlat.
Marilyn Magpatoc, a political prisoner for 11 years and one of the authors of the book, hoped that the book will serve as an inspiration and a space to think for those who will read it. She read an excerpt, a poem she wrote while she was still in detention.
“Sa tinin ng kaaway sila’y nagwagi / Na ang diwa ko’y kanilang nagapi / Araw-araw pinapatunayan kong sila’y mali / Diwang aktibista’y di kailanman mababali,” Magpatoc recited.
Former political prisoner Amanda Echanis, LAYA spokesperson, emphasized that the people in power and those who are also implicated in corruption should be put to jail instead of those who demand accountability and justice.
“Farmers, workers, journalists, doctors, human rights workers, and the marginalized sectors are arrested for serving the communities, those disadvantaged at most,” said Echanis in Filipino. “This is an important day for us to launch this nationwide and international campaign. The freedom of all political prisoners requires our collective action.”
Former political prisoner Amanda Echanis is the spokesperson of LAYA campaign network. Photo by Dominic Gutoman/Bulatlat.
She added in a separate statement, “What has become clearer, especially amidst the hearings on the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, that those in power will do anything not to be held accountable, while the people are sickened by their waste of funds not only to steal from people’s money, but also to ensure that they go scot-free.”
The LAYA campaign aims to unite organizations and individuals, and appeal to those in government to facilitate the speedy release of political prisoners, especially those with humanitarian considerations, like the sick, elderly, and women.
“No activist or dissenter should be put to jail for his political beliefs. No one should be deemed criminal for speaking out against the massive plunder that the likes of the Marcoses and Dutertes continue to do in power,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay.
CIW political prisoners also expressed their gratitude for the campaign and the Paper Trail Projects for allowing their words to break free behind bars.
“While we are here, restrained in the walls of our facilities, our plight is no different from the struggle of all people who were robbed by the powers that be,” the political prisoners wrote in Filipino. “In contrast to how fast the trumped-up charges were filed against us, the justice system is deliberately slow in holding them [corrupt politicians] accountable.”
They also emphasized that the LAYA campaign is another source of strength for them– uplifting their morale despite their glaring conditions. “History has proven our praxis: our strong, loud, and persistent campaign is the key to our freedom.” (AMU, RVO)
The post Behind bars, political prisoners assert freedom appeared first on Bulatlat.
From Bulatlat via This RSS Feed.