MANILA, Philippines — The World March of Women – Pilipinas held a candle-lighting ceremony and harana at the Boy Scout Rotonda in Quezon City to call for the release of anti-trafficking advocate Sally Ujano. The event was organized ahead of Sally’s arraignment on March 8, International Women’s Day.
To recall, Ujano, 64, was arrested in November 2021 on supposed charges of rebellion dated 2006. The Philippine National Police lauded its own arrest, calling Ujano one of the country's most wanted who had allegedly been in hiding for 15 years.
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Women’s rights advocates have contested this, pointing out that Ujano has spoken on child trafficking at events and ceremonies attended by government officials, some of which included Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista, himself a former general.
In a message read by her children, Ujano, who referred to herself as a political prisoner and person deprived of liberty, appealed for the public's support.
"Although I am in prison, I sincerely join you all for the celebration of this important day," she wrote in Filipino.
"My family and I are deeply saddened by my incarceration even though I have done nothing wrong and against the law. Despite more than 30 years of service to women and young victims of violence and exploitation, along with other NGOs and service providers from the government, I have been charged with rebellion where the accusation is baseless."
According to the event organizers, Sally had always been in the public eye as national coordinator of Philippines Against Child Trafficking and earlier as executive director of Women’s Crisis Center.
She has also worked with the government, including the PNP, in protecting women and children from all forms of abuse and exploitation, according to World March of Women–Pilipinas National Coordinator Jean Enriquez who called it "deeply troubling that Sally herself has become a victim of the abuse and exploitation that she and her colleagues have always protected women from."
“Her detention is a huge loss to vulnerable women and children who need protection, and to the nation as a whole,” she said.
Shar Balagtas, speaker for LILAK (Purple Action for Indigenous Women's Rights), stated that the Duterte administration has always shown a fear of women in the six years that it was in power.
"The government was behind the many threats and repression just to silence a woman and prevent her from acting," Balagtas said in Filipino.
The PNP has said that a personal nurse was given to Ujano to closely monitor her health given her old age.
Ujano has been the national coordinator of the Philippines Against Child Trafficking since 2008. She also served in the Women’s Crisis Center from 2000 to 2007.
In a joint statement, Ujano's children pointed out that, before her arrest, their mother had been a crisis worker, trainer, and consultant on said issues, developing standards, protocols, and programs for victim survivors of VAWC that are gender responsive and child-sensitive.
"Our mother is a law-abiding citizen. She is being detained for a crime she did not commit. The charge of rebellion against her is not true. She worked with the Women’s Crisis Center for almost 20 years, where she took on different roles to provide feminist crisis intervention services to victim-survivors of violence against women and children," they said.
"Our mother is already a senior citizen. Being detained in an overcrowded jail puts her at great risk of contracting infectious diseases. At 64 years of age, she has hypertension, heart disease, gallbladder polyps, and osteo-arthritis of the spine and both knees, which we fear might worsen, considering prison conditions."