Regional Trial Court (RTC) Negros Occidental Branch 50 presiding judge Elbert V. Jomilla denied the motion to quash the search warrants of peasant organizer Danilo Tabura and community journalist Anne Krueger in a resolution dated December 2, 2022.

Tabura and Kreuger were among the 57 arrested for trumped-up charges during the “Negros Crackdown” last October 2019, with search warrants issued by Judge Burgos Villavert of RTC Quezon City.

They filed the motion to quash the search warrants due to inconsistencies found in the warrant and the lack of probable cause for its issuance. They also assert that AFP and PNP failed to comply with the rules for the conduct of a proper search.

Moreover in their motion, they assert that the raid and search was carried out in a place not described in the warrant.

Anne Kreuger at the third national congress of Altermidya.

Kreuger is a community journalist and founding editor of Paghimutad and was incidentally at the office of Gabriela Negros when the police served the search warrant. She is currently a full-time labor organizer of BPO workers and serves as media officer for BIEN Philippines. She was held and charged with illegal possession of firearms.

Tabura is the spokesperson of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) Negros. He was working at the National Federation of Sugar Workers of the Philippines (NFSW) when he was served the arrest warrant.

“We firmly believe that the resolution to deny the motion to quash is a continued effort of harassment against Anne and Danny, exhausting time, resources, and liberty,” BIEN said in a statement.

In a statement, KMP Negros also mentioned that Tabura has experienced continued harrassment from state forces. Last October 24, unindentified men were seen surveilling the premises of the NFSW office and he also received death threats through texts.

The resolution only shows how the court is being used as a tool to supress progressive, continues to the statement.

The groups call to junk the trumped-up charges against Tabura and Kreuger and to stop the targeted attacks on rights defenders in Negros.