Philippines: PEN International calls for investigation into detention of ‘red-tagged’ writer and activist Amanda Echanis

‘The ongoing detention of writer and activist Amanda Echanis is a damning indictment of the Philippines’ justice system. We urge the Philippine authorities to immediately conduct an independent and transparent investigation into the circumstances of her arrest, including allegations of evidence planting’, said Ma Thida, Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee.

23 July 2024: PEN International is deeply concerned by the ongoing detention of Amanda Echanis, whose arrest resembles other cases of writers, journalists and activists who have been detained on politically motivated charges. The organisation calls for an impartial and effective investigation into the circumstances of her arrest, including allegations that evidence used against her was planted. PEN International also calls on the Philippine authorities to heed the Philippine Supreme Court’s ruling and immediately end to the practice of ‘red-tagging’, which has had a deadly toll on writers, journalists and activists engaged in peaceful expression.

On 2 December 2020, Amanda Echanis was arrested at her home alongside her then-month-old baby and charged with illegal possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives, a non-bailable offence. Echanis has flatly rejected the allegation and has accused the Philippines authorities of planting evidence. According to Echanis’ legal representative, police did not present a search warrant until five hours after searches had already commenced at Echanis’ home, raising significant due process concerns. The widespread misuse of warrants by the police to detain activists and government critics has resulted in the passing of a resolution by the Philippines Supreme Court mandating police officers to wear body cameras when serving warrants.

Echanis has been detained for over three and a half years since her arrest, with court hearings repeatedly postponed, denying her ability to prove her innocence before the court. The charge against Echanis is one that is routinely used against those who have been ‘red-tagged’ - or accused by government authorities or its proxies of having links to communist insurgency groups. Activists, human rights defenders and individuals who criticise the government are all vulnerable to being ‘red-tagged’, exposing them to harassment, arbitrary arrest or even death.

In 1990, Amanda Echanis’ father, a fellow activist in support of rural workers’ rights, was also arrested on the same charge that she now faces, which resulted in Echanis staying at a custodial detention centre with her parents when she was less than two years old, making her the country’s ‘youngest political prisoner’ at the time. The case against Echanis’ father was dismissed in 1992. In August 2020, just months before Amanda Echanis’ arrest, her father was brutally murdered in a case that remains unsolved.

Other examples of the consequences of ‘red-tagging’ include slain poet, musician and activist, Ericson Acosta, who was imprisoned in 2011 for almost two years for illegal possession of explosives until the Department of Justice dismissed the case against him in January 2013, stating that the charges against him were baseless. Acosta was killed by the Philippine Army in November 2022, with questions remaining over the military’s account of how he died following a shootout.

Background

Amanda Echanis is a writer, poet and activist. A graduate in Creative Writing from the Philippines High School for the Arts, Echanis’ published her first book in 2006 entitled Tatlong Paslit na Alaala (Three Childhood Memories), a collection of stage plays about the struggles faced by children from different socio-political contexts.

Following her graduation, Echanis deepened her involvement in activism to address urban and rural poverty. In 2014, she published a screenplay titled, Nanay Mamen, which depicted the life of celebrated anti-poverty activist, Carmen ‘Nanay Mamen’ Deunida.

Since Echanis’ arrest in 2020, she has continued to write from behind bars. In 2023, Echanis published a collection of her poetry and essays from prison, entitled Binhi ng Paglaya (Seeds of Liberation). She has also won the 2023 Southeast Asian Translation Mentorship, established by The Seams in conjunction with Ethos Books, who are supporting Echanis’ translation of Filipino poetry.

In June 2024, Amanda Echanis participated in a prestigious creative writing workshop, the Palihang Rogelio Sicat, which is named after renowned Filipino novelist, Rogelio Sicat. First established in 1984, the workshop was convened in hybrid format for the first time to accommodate Echanis’ participation while she is being held in detention.

For further details contact Ross Holder, Head of Asia/ Pacific Region at PEN International: Ross.Holder@pen-international.org.