737 Held as Political Detainees, 164 Arrested Under Marcos Jr.

At Ground Level

- Satur C. Ocampo

As of June 2025, a total of 737 persons were being held as political detainees in various detention centers and civilian prisons across the country. Of that total, 164 were arrested under the current administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Many of them have been slapped with trumped-up criminal charges, noted the human rights monitoring alliance Karapatan. The court hearings of their cases have been moving at "snail's pace"—which in this country of ours is not unusual.

Thirty of the detainees were arrested on fabricated cases, with the police authorities invoking the much-criticized Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020 and a related earlier legislation, the Terrorism-Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012.

Among those accused under these laws are journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, development workers Marielle Domequil and Emilio Gabales, church worker Aldreen Yanez and environmental activist Miguela Peniero.

Of the 737 now being held in jail for alleged political offenses, a big number (104) are elderly and 96 are afflicted with various mostly chronic ailments.

It needs to be pointed out that thousands and thousands of other Filipinos are languishing in jails all over the country today, and Karapatan emphasizes that practically all of them were subjected to torture and inhumane treatment, as well as subhuman conditions in congested facilities that are run on insufficient and corruption-prone budgets. Their diet is unhealthy, and they get too little medical and other care services or none at all. (Unlike certain detainees who get rushed to a hospital, or are even able to enjoy hotel-like accommodations and much more.)

It's not surprising then that deaths from illness and neglect have resulted, including 13 political detainees held since the Marcos Jr. administration.