Two progressive group leaders were reportedly arrested in a series of operations in Central Luzon on Tuesday, March 30.
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon leader and KMP vice chairperson Joseph Canlas was nabbed at around 8:30 a.m. in Mexico, Pampanga.
The arrest of Canlas came after members of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group reportedly served a warrant against the peasant leader.
In another operation, KMP said Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Central Luzon and Workers Alliance of Region III leader Pol Viuya was arrested in Bamban, Tarlac.
Canlas and Viuya were reportedly brought to Camp Olivas in San Fernando, Pampanga. The group did not provide details on what charges the two leaders were facing.
The peasant group said Canlas and Viuya have been red-tagged by the government’s anti-insurgency task force, branding them as recruiters of the New People's Army (NPA).
KMP said Canlas, a long-time peasant leader in Central Luzon, is also the vice president for Luzon of Anakpawis Partylist. He leads numerous campaigns and struggles for the welfare of farmers in the region.
“The Duterte regime knows nothing but to repress the people,” KMP national chairperson Danilo Ramos said in a statement.
“Farmers have been demanding aid and production subsidy as the pandemic and economic crisis rages, yet it has repeatedly attacked legitimate peasant leaders and organizations. Si Duterte mismo ang kalbaryo sa magbubukid (Duterte himself is the calvary of the peasant)!,” he added.
Ramos claimed that authorities are taking advantage of the strict lockdown and quarantine measures to carry out attacks against activists and people's organizations.
The simultaneous arrests in Central Luzon came weeks after the “Bloody Sunday” raids in Southern Luzon provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Rizal that killed nine people.