Housing activists imprisoned in the Philippines

On April 13 2019, two full time youth and community organizers and housing activists, John Griefen Arlegui and Reynaldo Remias, were violently abducted by members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Angat, Bulacan.

Since then they have been detained on trumped up charges, accused of possession of firearms and explosives and held in inhumane conditions without bail. They have been subjected to intense interrogation techniques, torture and beatings by the AFP. It was only after collective action that the state was forced to reveal their whereabouts.

The Canada Philippines Solidarity Organization (CPSO) is collecting donations on behalf of KADAMAY, a Philippines-wide urban poor organisation, to support the Angat 2’s legal fees. They currently require ~400,000 PHP, or nearly 10,000 CAD for legal representation during their trials against their unjust charges.

The detention of the Angat 2 is part of the continuing attack on the urban poor movement. KADAMAY is the largest urban poor organisation in the Philippines and has been engaging in mass-organising against unjust housing policies and state violence since 1998. In 2017, they led a mass-occupation of 6000 vacant homes with over 12000 families in the municipality of Pandi, Bulacan, and have successfully maintained the occupation site to this day. Both Arlegui and Remias are full time youth and community organizers and live in the Pandi housing project.

As a solidarity organization, CPSO recognizes that the class struggle in the Philippines parallels that of the unhoused population in Canada, which is repressed and criminalized on an ongoing basis. In working to build connections between these movements, sending material support to the Angat 2’s legal campaign is a concrete way we can stand in solidarity with the movement for housing in the Philippines and bolster against violent state repression.

Free the Angat 2!