Environmental activist group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment called for an investigation into the arrest of Daisy Macapanpan, an environmental defender in Pakil town, Laguna province on Saturday, June 11.
Macapanpan was reportedly arrested after she delivered a speech protesting the building of a hydropower plant in town.
“The arrest of Daisy Macapanpan reeks of many irregularities,” read a Kalikasan PNE statement. “Why send around 40 members of the Special Action Force to arrest a 68 year-old woman? That’s overkill.”
A video shows Macapanpan being arrested by police personnel in full battle gear.
“This is a clear reprisal against her for standing up against a potentially destructive dam project,” said Leon Dulce, national coordinator for Kalikasan PNE.
The environmental activist group also noted that the warrant of arrest issued against Macapanpan “is highly questionable” and is based on a rebellion case filed in 2008.
The group urged Pakil Mayor Vicente Soriano, who condemned the arrest, to investigate the incident, having jurisdiction over the police.
“He knows that the arrest is highly questionable and should not hide behind the complications of the law. He knows that Daisy did nothing but exercise her rights as a resident of Pakil to air her convictions over the Ahunan project,” said Dulce in a statement.
“There is nothing wrong with airing disapproval and explaining opinions on why the Ahunan Hydropower Project should be shelved,” said Dulce.
The Ahunan Pumped-Storage Hydropower Project will be constructed on Mount Inumpog in the Sierra Madre mountain range.
The project, a joint venture of Prime Metro Power Holdings Corp. and JBD Water Power Inc., will affect about 299 hectares of land, according to Kalikasan PNE.
