PRESS STATEMENT                                                                                                 REFERENCE: Marie Hilao-Enriquez
22 January 2004                                                                                                                                   Secretary General

Free Zenaida Llesis! Free All Political Prisoners!
Hunger strike to Freedom

It is the third day of Zenaida Llesis' hunger strike to freedom.

The woman political prisoner was firm in her resolve that until the day comes that she is freed, she will not cease this protest action. Reports from KARAPATAN-Bukidnon state that members of sectoral organizations have been picketing in front of the Bukidnon Provincial Hospital since Tuesday at the start of Zeny's hunger strike, where she and her sick baby Gabriela have been detained for almost a year now.

SELDA or the Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya, led by its Secretary General Marie Hilao-Enriquez will be holding a support picket today at the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP). Like other peoples' organizations, they have been pushing for the mother and daughter's release on humanitarian grounds. They have done so, since the day government soldiers captured the accused rebel who was then suffering from difficult pregnancy and had threatened abortion on her second trimester.

"We have brought Zenaida's case to different government agencies, and we have yet to see concrete action on their part." Enriquez said, herself a former political detainee who gave birth to her firstborn in jail and was released on humanitarian grounds after they initiated protest actions in prison.

Enriquez likewise expressed concern on Zenaida's baby daughter Gabriela who was born with a hole on her heart and a tumor on her liver. "The jail is the least place to raise a child, much more to treat a sick child like Gabriela."

Members of SELDA decried the government's practice to hide its moves of political arrest and persecution. They point to the fact that right now governments since the time of President Aquino have resorted to the criminalization of political offenses as a means to silence those they deem are against government policies. This is an abominable practice that conveniently hides political arrest and detention; persons arrested and detained for their political beliefs must be charged with rebellion and not common crimes.

Today, Zenaida who is one among three nursing mothers detained along with 12 women political prisoners is part of a total of 310 political offenders in the country. They continue to suffer mental and physical torture at the hands of their captors and are denied their basic rights. Under the Macapagal-Arroyo Administration who had promised to release political prisoners at the start of her people power backed term, there are already 214 arrested and detained.

"We will not stop advocating for the release of those who have struggled for a peaceful society based on genuine justice. We will continue to fight along with Zenaida so as not to deny a better future for the children like Gabriela." Enriquez concluded. ###