By NICOLE MANAGBANAG
and LITO RULONA
Correspondents
FIVE political prisoners in the Misamis Oriental provincial jail have gone on a five-day hunger strike in an effort to make President Duterte cause their release.
The inmates said the Duterte administration agreed to release political prisoners during the negotiations in Oslo, Norway in October.
Vicente Porras Libona a.k.a. “Ka Tatay” said: “Gusto namo nga mapahinumduman og mapukaw ang halandong Presidente sa iyang gisaad nga iyang ipagawas ang tanan nga mga binilanggong politikal nga walay konsdisyon.”
Libona, who hails from Gingoog City, has been in prison for eight years dure to a homicide with robbery case, was joined by four other political detainees in the hunger strike.
The others are Arnold Saliring of Balingasag who also has a pending homicide with robbery case; Delan Almonte of Claveria who has a pending muder case; Rene Lopez of Salay who has a homicide with robbery case; and Joel Yagao of Bugo, this city, who has a murder case.
Members of their relatives came when they started the five-day hunger strike on Wednesday.
Libona complained that he has been in detention for eight years, and his case has not been moving or even reviewed.
“Dugay na kaayo ko diri, pila na ka pasko ang gilabay. Manghinaut ko nga sa karong pasko makamtan ko na akong kagawasan ug i-limpyo sa kasamtangang gobyerno ang among mga pangalan human kami gi himu-himuan ug sala,” he said.
Libona said the cases that were filed against them were all trumped up.
Saliring said his group would not take food, and would only drink water until they break the fast on Saturday in time for Human Rights Day.
Similar hunger strikes are also being staged in prison facilities in Malaybalay and Valencia cities in Bukidnon.
The political detainees said they have been waiting for the Duterte administration to fulfill its promise to free them.
“Apan hangtud karon wala pa ma’y naka-gawas sa iyang gisaad. Kami nabalaka nga basin nalimtan na niya. Dunay mga nakagawas but they were peace consultants,” Libona said.
The group said the promise was for government to release political prisoners across the country on humanitarian grounds.
The human rights group Karapatan said there are 401 political prisoners all over the country. It said 130 of them are sickly, 33 are elderly, 33 are women, and 49 have been imprisoned for over 10 years already.
Karapatan noted that 15 of the political detainees were arrested during the Duterte administration.
In the Northern Mindanao, there are 21 political prisoners at present, and four of them were arrested during the Duterte administration.
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