On the Release of Amanda Echanis After Five Years of Unjust Detention

GABRIELA joins the Filipino people in celebrating the long-overdue release of peasant organizer and young mother Amanda Echanis. She represents the hundreds of political prisoners who remain behind bars for their commitment to genuine social change. After five years of unjust detention based on fabricated charges, her acquittal is a triumph of justice over the machinery of state terrorism. Her release proves that when we speak out and organize, we can break the chains of injustice.

Amanda’s story is a testament to the courage of young activists who choose the path less traveled—leaving the comforts of the city to live among and serve peasant communities in the countryside. We hail her release as a victory, but our joy is tempered by the grief for Jerlyn Doydora and the urgent demand for Chantal’s freedom from the military. Their lives prove that the state’s primary targets are the youth who refuse to be silent—those who leave behind personal comfort to defend indigenous lands against destructive mining and energy projects.

Their ordeal only highlights the desperation of a rotten system that fears those who empower the marginalized. We vow to continue the fight until every activist is free and the systemic roots of poverty and repression are uprooted.

Tuloy ang laban! Release Chantal Anicoche! Free our sisters, free all political prisoners! Justice for Jerlyn Doydora and all victims of state terror!