Release Josephine Porquia & Ma. Luisa Tagamolila Now!

Katribu condemns the arrest of two longtime women development workers, Josephine Parra Porquia and Ma. Luisa Tagamolila, on April 2 during Holy Thursday in Iloilo City.

Their arrest is yet another blatant act of political persecution against activists and development workers who have long dedicated their lives to serving the oppressed and marginalized sectors of society.

Josephine Porquia has long stood with Filipino migrants and their families, having witnessed firsthand the exploitation, abuse, and neglect endured by overseas Filipino workers. As a former coordinator of Migrante, she tirelessly fought for the welfare and protection of migrant Filipinos and their loved ones left behind. Meanwhile, Ma. Luisa Tagamolila, a member of Gabriela, has long been at the forefront of the struggle for women’s rights and people’s welfare, consistently resisting state violence, patriarchy, and systemic oppression.

Their arrest is not an isolated incident. It forms part of the state’s continuing campaign to silence activists, human rights defenders, and all those who genuinely stand with the masses. Under Marcos Jr., fascist and anti-people programs such as the National Action Plan for Unity, Peace and Development (NAP-UPD) continue and intensify the Whole-of-Nation Approach launched under Rodrigo Duterte. These are not peace-building mechanisms—they are instruments of repression used to harass, vilify, surveil, and detain those who organize among the people and expose the roots of poverty, exploitation, and injustice.

This broader pattern of the state is evident in the persecution of the families of the two women. Josephine’s husband, Jory Porquia, was brutally killed by state forces in April 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic while conducting relief efforts for communities in need. Since then, their family has continued to endure relentless red-tagging, intimidation, and harassment. Ma. Luisa’s son, Atty. Angelo Karlo Guillen, survived a near-fatal stabbing in March 2021 after extending legal assistance to Tumandok communities and seeking justice for the victims of the December 2020 Tumandok massacre.

At a time of deepening crisis, this government has once again shown where its priorities lie. While the Filipino people suffer from worsening economic hardship, rising prices of basic goods, and skyrocketing oil prices aggravated by the aggressive wars and geopolitical conflicts driven by US imperialism, the Marcos Jr. administration remains inutile in addressing the people’s urgent needs. Instead of providing meaningful aid, lowering prices, and ensuring social services, the state pours its resources into surveillance, militarization, and political repression.

At a time when the unity of the people, community support, and the free expression of dissent are most needed, the state’s response is harassment, intimidation, and imprisonment. While the corrupt and those truly responsible for the people’s suffering remain free and unaccountable, it is those who serve the people who are charged, arrested, and jailed.

The Marcos Jr. regime is corrupt, anti-poor, repressive, and inutile in the face of the people’s suffering. It fears organized communities and dissent because these expose the rotten foundations of a system that protects the powerful while abandoning the poor.

We call for the immediate release of Josephine Parra Porquia and Ma. Luisa Tagamolila. More than this, we demand accountability from the Marcos Jr. administration and all state forces responsible for the continuing persecution of activists, development workers, and rights defenders. We call on the public to condemn these unjust arrests and to continue defending the rights of communities, women, Indigenous Peoples, workers, migrants, and all oppressed sectors to organize, speak out, and fight for their rights.

Reference: Funa-ay Claver, national coordinator