A veteran organizer of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) in Northern Negros Occidental was released on February 27 after more than five years in detention.
Gaspar Davao, 60, of Barangay Pinapugasan, Escalante City, walked free from the Negros Occidental District Jail following his acquittal by the Cadiz City Regional Trial Court on charges of illegal possession of explosives.
Davao was arrested at a military checkpoint on the night of June 9, 2020, in Barangay Caduhaan, Cadiz City. Authorities initially cited him for not wearing a face mask while riding a public utility van, as it was in the height of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Shortly, a hand grenade was allegedly found in his bag, leading to his arrest.
He had attended a meeting of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) in Bacolod City before his arrest. His charge for not wearing a face mask was dismissed by the Municipal Trial Court in Cities in March 2024.
This was Davao’s second imprisonment. He was first detained in November 1991 on illegal possession of firearms charges and was held for over two years at the now-defunct Negros Occidental Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center.
Davao worked as a district organizer for NFSW’s Land Cultivation Areas (LCA) initiative in northern Negros. The program secured over 3,000 hectares of land for farmers, planted mainly with rice and corn.
Despite his release, 111 political prisoners remain in the newly-formed Negros Island Region, including 16 women and one LGBTQ+ individual. The high number is attributed to Memorandum Order 32, issued in 2018, which intensified military operations on the island, leading to arrest and even deaths of activists, such as Zara Alvarez and Ben Ramos.
According to Kapatid Negros, 58 of these political prisoners are detained in Negros Occidental, while 53 are held in Negros Oriental.
Paghimutad 