KADUAMI - Women in Pursuit of Justice This project will enable14 peasant women whose human rights are violated, experiencing judicial harassment, and injustice. At least3 of them are currently detained for trumped up charges, with whom 1 has a baby with her in the detention cell; 4 are forced to “surrender” as they were maliciously tagged as communist rebels; 4 are wives whose husbands are detained for trumped-up charges with planted evidence; and 3 victims of red-tagging, intimidation, and harassment. They are from 4 different municipalities, namely Baggao,Amulung, Alcala, Sto Nino, Aparri, in the Province of Cagayan, Region 2, Philippines. The
detained women are Christina Miguel, Violeta Ricardo and Amanda Echanis. Christina and Violeta are elderly peasant women who are detained due to invented accusations of murder of some soldiers, frustrated murder, arson, and illegal possession of firearms and explosives. They are charged separately but with similar charges. Last year, both were slapped with additional charges of murder and frustrated murder by the military. Amanda Echanis is a peasant organizer. Her newborn baby was a month old when a composite team of military and police barged into her home on December 2, 2020 at 3 AM, planted firearms and explosives, and charged for illegal possession of firearms. She is detained with her baby. Jacqueline Ratin (63), Julie Marcos (64), Jane Valencia (45), and Emilia Ventura (42) are women who are victims of forced surrender. The military forced them to sign a document that they used to be rebelsand are now “returning to the folds of the law”. Angelita Bulseco (65), Lina Ladino (64), and Alma Infante (50) are peasant women who are tagged by military as “recruiters” of New PeoplesArmy or NPA since 2018. They are continuously threatened, intimidated, and harassed by military. Rosalinda Dagohoy (58), Jane Ramos(55), Precious Cabildo
(46), and Clarita Pascua (50) are wives of peasant leaders who are victims of trumped-up charges with planted evidence. Common to them is the raids of their homes at3AM by a hundred military and policemen where they are planted evidence of ammunitions and charged with illegal possessions of such. The peasant women and their families are the direct victims of abuse of power. They face barriers in accessing justice dueto gender discriminationfor being marginalized, lack of knowledge of their rights, as well as economic and educational disadvantages. This problem stems from the condition of the current Philippine administration of President Duterte whose regime is built on fear and repression. It imposes militaristic policies against critiques to suppress dissent. This project aims to enable the peasant women who are under attack to speak up against harassment and manage their legal battles. Specifically, it supportslocal efforts to advocate for legal rights of women who are under attack and whose families are victims of HR abuse. It capacitates the women to become voices of the unheard and improve their access to
justice in their ongoing legal struggle. This project wishes to see that the women are capacitated to speak about the injustice they are in and can manage their legal battle.