Human rights and church groups are calling for the immediate release of Maria Salome “Sally” Ujano, a 67-year-old child and women’s rights advocate who was convicted of rebellion in May 2024 and is currently imprisoned at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City.
Ujano was arrested in November 2021 over a 2005 ambush in Quezon province that allegedly killed two soldiers. The case, filed in 2005, led to her conviction nearly two decades later. Despite being granted bail in 2022, her conviction resulted in a sentence of 10 to 17 years in prison and the cancellation of her bail.
Given her prominent role in advocacy work as the national coordinator for Philippines Against Child Trafficking (PACT), her family remains puzzled over her arrest and conviction.
At a solidarity event organized by the Philippines Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) on July 10, 2025, participants voiced their support for Ujano, asserting that human rights defenders like her should be protected, not imprisoned.
PAHRA, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, and several women’s organizations came together at the event to demand the release of Ujano and to urge lawmakers to prioritize the immediate passage of the Human Rights Defenders Protection Bill.
A long-time defender of women and children’s rights, Ujano served as Executive Director of the Women’s Crisis Center in Manila from 2000 to 2006. Her decades of public service earned her national and international recognition, including being named a “Feminist Champion against Gender-Based Violence” by UN Women Philippines in 2023.
Ujano’s daughter Karla condemned the allegations against her mother as baseless, noting that she was working at the Women’s Crisis Center in 2005 – the year the alleged crime took place.
The police were lying to justify Ujano’s arrest, said the human rights alliance Karapatan.
The Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines (CMSP) said Ujano was convicted based on questionable, recycled charges dating back to the Martial Law era. It explained that the warrant for her arrest in 2021 was issued in 2006 under a false identity.
The Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Commission of CMSP called for Ujano’s release, stating that “no credible evidence has ever directly linked her to the crime.”
“Her case is a clear example of how the law is being weaponized against those who advocate for the most vulnerable,” CMSP added.
Ujano’s continued detention is a clear injustice rooted in so-called “red-tagging,” said PAHRA Secretary-General Egay Cabalitan. The practice of “red-tagging” means the labeling of individuals or organizations as supporters of the communist insurgency group New People’s Army (NPA), which has been classified as “terrorist” since 2017.
Ujano’s family has called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to order her immediate and unconditional release, as human rights organizations pressed Congress to prioritize the Human Rights Defenders Protection Bill and urged the president to certify it as urgent.
Photo © Raffy Lerma