Philippine government: Free Hedda Calderon! Stop the attacks against women human rights defenders!

GABRIELA Alliance of Women and Gabriela Women's Party strongly condemn the illegal arrest and detention of Hedda Calderon, social worker, and a staunch activist for women's rights for more than 2 decades. She was former Deputy Secretary General of GABRIELA and currently a consultant of Gabriela Women's Party. She is also President of the Board of Lila Pilipina, an organization advocating for the rights and welfare of World War II comfort women. She was arrested with four others in Laguna, Philippines on October 15, 2018. 

We call for her immediate release, as there is no case filed against her at the time of her arrest, and that her arresting officers employed compounded human rights violations such as illegal search, fabricated or planted evidence and warrantless arrest, against her.

We strongly condemn the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police for insinuating that those arrested were terrorists to justify the "Red October" plot that they concocted.