29/08/2026
Five months have passed since artist-activist Charlize “Ceeka” Garzon’s illegal arrest. A recent graduate of Benilde’s Arts Management program and an active member of Panday Sining Malate, Ceeka sought to break free from the institutionalized understanding of art by immersing with the Mangyan-buhid in Occidental Mindoro. It was there that she would be arrested by the 68th Infantry Battalion on March 29. In the hours after her arrest, Ceeka would face physical and mental abuse under military custody while her family faced harassment by state agents.
Months later, Ceeka’s battle against injustice only continues.
State agents such as Lt. Vina del Campo, who headed the psychological abuse Ceeka endured under military custody, has attempted to visit her inside San Jose District Jail (SJDJ) where Ceeka is currently imprisoned for trumped-up and fabricated charges. Similar to past political prisoners, Ceeka’s ongoing legal battle has faced numerous setbacks with August 25 supposedly being her pre-trial date after her pre-trial conference on August 24. Yet this was once again delayed.
The use of the legal system to prolong the imprisonment of activists arrested on trumped-up and fabricated charges is nothing new. It’s the nature of a legal system upheld by corrupt government officials that trickles trillions of tax-payer money into their own pockets while rainwater floods the streets. In Barangay Tagumpay, Occidental Mindoro, the collapse of a flood control project caused P1.43 billion in damages as rainwater flooded the surrounding communities and rice fields.
A system that profits from land-grabbing and the corruption of public funds will always be hostile to youth-activists like Ceeka who choose to know the concrete conditions of our basic masses in the countryside. This is clear from the back-to-back attacks on the youth since Ceeka’s own arrest on March 29. State terror only grows crueler and more frequent as unemployment, inflation, and the price of goods and services continues to rise. This is by design. State terror is the systematic response to those who dare to express their dissent or immerse themselves with the ones most affected by these systematic failures. As the youth, it is our duty to fight against this status quo and call for concrete change—for genuine national democracy!
Five months have passed since artist-activist Charlize “Ceeka” Garzon’s illegal arrest. A recent graduate of Benilde’s Arts Management program and an active member of Panday Sining Malate, Ceeka sought to break free from the institutionalized understanding of art by immersing with the Mangyan-buhid in Occidental Mindoro. It was there that she would be arrested by the 68th Infantry Battalion on March 29. In the hours after her arrest, Ceeka would face physical and mental abuse under military custody while her family faced harassment by state agents.
Months later, Ceeka’s battle against injustice only continues.
State agents such as Lt. Vina del Campo, who headed the psychological abuse Ceeka endured under military custody, has attempted to visit her inside San Jose District Jail (SJDJ) where Ceeka is currently imprisoned for trumped-up and fabricated charges. Similar to past political prisoners, Ceeka’s ongoing legal battle has faced numerous setbacks with August 25 supposedly being her pre-trial date after her pre-trial conference on August 24. Yet this was once again delayed.
The use of the legal system to prolong the imprisonment of activists arrested on trumped-up and fabricated charges is nothing new. It’s the nature of a legal system upheld by corrupt government officials that trickles trillions of tax-payer money into their own pockets while rainwater floods the streets. In Barangay Tagumpay, Occidental Mindoro, the collapse of a flood control project caused P1.43 billion in damages as rainwater flooded the surrounding communities and rice fields.
A system that profits from land-grabbing and the corruption of public funds will always be hostile to youth-activists like Ceeka who choose to know the concrete conditions of our basic masses in the countryside. This is clear from the back-to-back attacks on the youth since Ceeka’s own arrest on March 29. State terror only grows crueler and more frequent as unemployment, inflation, and the price of goods and services continues to rise. This is by design. State terror is the systematic response to those who dare to express their dissent or immerse themselves with the ones most affected by these systematic failures. As the youth, it is our duty to fight against this status quo and call for concrete change—for genuine national democracy!
