The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) warmly welcomes the acquittal of peasant women’s organizer, poet, and writer Amanda Echanis on January 14, 2026, after more than five years of unjust detention over trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. Her acquittal affirms what peasants and human rights advocates have long asserted: that the charges against Echanis were fabricated to punish her tireless organizing work among farmers and peasant women in Cagayan Valley.

Echanis, an organizer of Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women in Cagayan, was arrested in the early morning of December 2, 2020 in Baggao, Cagayan while caring for her then one-month-old infant. Her arrest was part of a systematic crackdown in the region marked by military and police raids, planting of evidence, and baseless criminal cases meant to silence peasant advocates. Despite being separated from her child and enduring years of incarceration, Echanis remained steadfast, continuing even her studies. Echanis even secured the top councilor position in the University of the Philippines Diliman University Student Council while she was in detention, an unprecedented feat that underscored her resilience and continued commitment to serving the people despite incarceration.

“This victory proves that the state’s lies cannot last forever,” said KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos. “Matagal nang malinaw na inosente si Amanda. Ang kanyang pagkakulong ay patunay ng malupit na paggamit ng gawa-gawang kaso laban sa mga nag-oorganisa ng mga magsasaka at kababaihan. Ang kanyang paglaya ay tagumpay ng sama-samang pakikibaka,” Ramos said.

KMP stressed that Echanis’ acquittal comes amid a worsening political landscape where activists, peasant organizers, and human rights defenders are relentlessly slapped with fabricated charges, while the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), the main government body spearheading counterinsurgency, continues to receive bloated public funds. These resources are used not to address rural poverty, landlessness, and hunger, but to fuel red-tagging, surveillance, arrests, and violence against those asserting peasants’ rights.

Nowhere is this climate of repression more evident than in Cagayan Valley, where peasant leaders and organizers are under sustained attack. Cagayan Valley peasant leaders Cita Managuelod and Isabelo “Ka Buting” Adviento are among those facing fabricated terrorism financing charges under Republic Act No. 10168, part of a broader campaign to criminalize peasant organizing and humanitarian work. This repression is compounded by the abduction of peasant organizer and environmental advocate Stalin Valencia in November 2025, who was seized by armed state agents in November while crossing San Mateo Bridge in Isabela and forcibly taken under the guise of trumped-up cases.

“Hindi hiwa-hiwalay na kaso ang sinapit ni Amanda,” said KMP secretary general Ronnie Manalo. “Ang mga gawa-gawang kaso laban kina Ka Cita at Ka Buting pati ang pagdukot kay Valencia ay malinaw na patunay ng tuloy-tuloy na pasistang atake sa mga magsasakang ipinaglalaban ang lupa at kabuhayan. Habang binibigyan ng bilyun-bilyon ang NTF-ELCAC, ang mga lider-magsasaka’t organisador ang tinatarget, tinatakot, at ikinukulong,” Manalo said.

While welcoming Echanis’ freedom, KMP emphasized that justice is incomplete without accountability. Those responsible for her illegal arrest, the planting of evidence, and years of stolen freedom must be held criminally and administratively liable. KMP also reiterated its call for the immediate release of all political prisoners and for an end to the policy of criminalizing peasant organizing.

“Ang pagpapawalang-sala kay Amanda ay isang tagumpay na bunga ng matagal at matinding pakikibaka,” said Ramos. “Ngunit hangga’t patuloy ang pag-atake sa mga magsasaka, dinudukot ang mga aktibista, at umiiral ang mga gawa-gawang kaso, magpapatuloy ang pakikibaka. Makakamit lamang ang tunay na kapayapaan sa pamamagitan ng paggalang sa karapatan, pagwawakas sa impunidad, at pagtugon sa ugat ng kahirapan sa kanayunan sa pamamagitan ng tunay na reporma sa lupa.”

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