MANILA, Philippines — Four people from Occidental Mindoro were jailed and slapped with charges under the highly-contested anti-terrorism law for allegedly protecting New People’s Army combatants. The individuals, identified by rights group Karapatan as farmers, were said to have kept NPA rebels under their protection before a July 5 encounter with government troops. Casidsid and Delafuente, meanwhile, were charged with obstruction of justice. Karapatan said this is the first time that charges under the anti-terrorism law were pursued in the southern Tagalog region. An Olongapo court junked Monday the first known charges under the anti-terrorism law after it found that the prosecution failed to establish the identities of the two accused Aetas.

Source: Philippine Star July 22, 2021 09:33 UTC