Bulacan court orders arrest of 2 environmental activists

Environmental activists Jhed Tamano and Jonila Castro face the media on Sept. 19, 2023  (INQUIRER / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE)

MANILA, Philippines — A Bulacan court has ordered the arrest of environmental activists Jhonila Castro and Jhed Tamano for grave oral defamation.

According to the arrest warrant penned by Presiding Judge Jonna Veridiano on February 2, the two committed grave oral defamation under Article 358 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Section 94 of Republic Act No. 10951.

Bail was set at P18,000 for Castro and Tamano.

On February 15, the Supreme Court granted a writ of amparo and habeas data to Castro and Tamano, citing threats or violations to their life, liberty, and security.

The charges stem from the approval of the Department of Justice to file cases against the two for their claims during a press conference with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict in September 2023 that they were abducted by members of the military.

Authorities, however, said that they were former members of rebel insurgent groups and that they voluntarily surrendered, with an affidavit, but Castro and Tamano claimed in the press conference that they were forced to write the affidavit.