Rafael Baylosis. Contributed photo by Pinoy Weekly
Labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) staged a protest rally on Monday to call for the immediate release and junking of charges filed against the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) leader Rafael Baylosis.
The KMU tagged the arrest of Baylosis as “illegal and unjust” during a rally held at Mendiola, Manila after the NDFP leader was arrested last week.
“We demand the immediate release of Baylosis and the junking of the trumped-up charges filed against him. His arrest was illegal and unjust,” Jerome Adonis, KMU secretary general said in a statement.
“The fascist Duterte regime should stop its brutal crackdown against labor leaders and critics of his tyrannical rule,” he added.
According to Adonis, the arrest was illegal because Baylosis was innocent in the charges of carrying a firearm and that no warrant of arrest was issued.
READ: NUPL claims cops plant firearm, grenade on possession of Baylosis
The KMU official also tagged Baylosis’ arrest as a “desperate move” of the Duterte administration to sabotage the leftist groups in the country and a prelude to Charter Charge
“The illegal arrest and filing of trumped-up charges against Baylosis is a desperate move by the Duterte regime to sabotage the people’s aspiration for peace, to discredit our legitimate and just demands for pro-worker and pro-people socio-economic reforms and to silence all opponents for his grand scheme to establish a fascist dictatorship through charter-change,” Adonis said.
The NDFP leader was arrested together with Guillermo Roque on Wednesday last week in Quezon City by joint forces of police and military operatives.
Both of them are currently detained in Camp Crame with charges of illegal possession of explosives for the grenade allegedly found in Baylosis’ bag. /je