Two activists were arrested in separate operations in Bohol and Baguio last December 2025 under the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012 (Republic Act No. 10168).
On December 20, 2025, Carmilo Tabada, 56, a former staff member of the Central Visayas Farmers’ Development Center (FARDEC) and current barangay councilor in Trinidad, Bohol, was apprehended by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)–Bohol Provincial Field Unit. Tabada faces charges under Republic Act No. 10168. The court later granted him bail of 200,000 Pesos for temporary release.
The same charge against Tabada was already dismissed by a Bohol court for lack of jurisdiction mid-2025.
A week later, on December 27, 2025, Michael Cabangon, a Cordillera labor leader and cultural worker, was arrested at his Baguio home due to a terrorism financing charge (based on testimonies by “military assets”). Cabangon serves as regional coordinator of the labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)–Cordillera and organizes the drivers’ group PISTON Metro-Baguio. He also fronts for the progressive band Ebkas Waya (Speak Free).
Cabangon was freed after posting bail at the Regional Trial Court a couple of days later.
Human rights group Karapatan Central Visayas criticized Tabada’s arrest, noting that a similar case filed earlier had been dismissed by a Bohol court for lack of jurisdiction. The group said the arrest reflects a pattern of repression under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., targeting development workers, peasant advocates, and community leaders through legal harassment, so-called “red-tagging” (i.e., accusing individuals or organizations of supporting or being a member of the communist rebel group New People’s Army), and recycled charges.
KMU Cordillera and the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance condemned Cabangon’s arrest as part of an emerging trend of using counter-terrorism laws to intimidate activists. Dapayan ti Kultura iti Kordilyera (DKK), an internationally recognized cultural workers’ alliance in the region, described it as “systematic repression” by the administration. The Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) dismissed the allegations against Cabangon as “false and baseless” and called on the public to stand with them in denouncing the incident.
Meanwhile, to mark International Human Rights Day, the Akbayan bloc in the House of Representatives filed two bills aimed at addressing human rights abuses under previous administrations.
House Bill No. 6677, the Extrajudicial Killings Victims Recognition and Reparation Act, seeks to recognize atrocities committed during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called “war on drugs,” provide reparations to victims, and establish a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate these violations. House Bill No. 6678, the Human Rights Defenders Protection Act, aims to protect human rights workers and organizations from harassment, violence, “red-tagging,” arbitrary detention, and other forms of abuse.
Akbayan lawmakers stressed the importance of these measures in preventing human rights violations from becoming normalized. Similar proposals were blocked under the Duterte administration.
Photo © Carmilo Tabada