AFTER President Rodrigo Duterte pardoned the 10 political prisoners, the Save our Schools (SOS) Network in Southern Mindanao Region also reiterated their call for the release of Salugpongan teachers and other prisoners who were falsely charged.
"The Save Our Schools Network appeal to the president to release Salugpongan teachers Amelia Pond and Dominiciano Muya who are both facing trumped up charges," their statement read.
Pond, 64, has served lumad schools in Davao region and was arrested in Cebu last year while attending an assembly of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, an institution serving Lumad communities and schools.
SOS said that Pond, who is detained in Tagum City Jail, has serious health condition after she underwent an operation on her spine.
"The charges against her, false and ridiculous as it seems, is in a way an attack against the Lumad schools which continues until now. Another school teacher from Salugpongan, Dominiciano Muya, who teaches agriculture subjects, is also facing false charges and is still in jail since 2015," it added.
The palace released on Thursday the names of 10 inmates who were granted with conditional pardon and were detained at the New Bilibid Prison as part of the fulfillment of Duterte's commitment in pursuing the peace negotiations with the communist movement. There are 409 political prisoners still in detention.
The list includes National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Emiterio Antalan, Joel Ramada, Apolonio Barado, Jose Navarro, Generoso Rolida, Arnulfo Boates, Manolito Patricio, Barigueco Calara, Sonny Marbella, and Ricardo Solangon.
The group also expressed its full support to the administration in pursuing just and lasting peace with the lefts, as they urged him to spare the Lumad schools and teachers from harassments allegedly perpetrated by government troops.