MANILA, Philippines — Farmers and their supporters who were arrested and detained for supposedly damaging land in Concepcion, Tarlac during a cultivation activity have been slapped by police with additional complaints.
Tarlac police filed Friday disobedience, obstruction of justice and usurpation of real rights complaints against the farmers and their supporters, collectively known as “Tinang 83.”
Related Stories
The Tinang 83 are being required to appear before the Tarlac prosecutor on June 29 at 9:30 a.m. and submit their counter-affidavit to the police’s complaint.
The new complaints are on top of the initial charges against the Tinang 83 of malicious mischief and illegal assembly, for which they have already posted bail which was partially funded through crowdfunding.
The 83 activists, workers, and agrarian reform beneficiaries were arrested last week and were detained for three days under what rights and advocacy groups called inhumane situations.
According to accounts from the police station, the detainees were put into the detention cells in shifts for lack of space. Several fainted from the heat and the close quarters.
They were arrested without warrant for their "bungkalan" or cultivation work activity on land in Hacienda Tinang in Concepcion, Tarlac covered by the government's agrarian reform program. — Xave Gregorio