End the Political Harassment of Carmilo Tabada and All Development Workers - DefendNGOs Alliance

The Defend NGOs Alliance denounces the recent legal harassment of development worker and community leader Carmilo Tabada—currently facing revived charges long dismissed by the courts.  Tabada is currently Barangay Councilor of Brgy Poblacion, Trinidad, Bohol.

The Alliance sees Tabada's arrest as part of the Philippine government’s escalating use of anti-terrorism and financial suppression mechanisms to intimidate and constrain independent civic action. The continuing harrasment of Tabada comes amid a broader pattern where NGOs and development workers continue to be wrongfully tagged, investigated, and prosecuted under terrorism financing and money-laundering statutes, disrupting their ability to serve marginalized communities.

Over the past years, numerous NGOs including people’s organizations had their programs hindered, accounts frozen, and personnel dragged into protracted legal battles on charges of terrorism financing and related offenses that regional courts have repeatedly found baseless. Defend NGOs Alliance has monitored dozens of development workers subjected to such cases, which not only drain organizational resources but also chill civil society’s capacity to uphold people-centered development and community empowerment.

The misuse of laws intended to address genuine threats—including RA 11479 (Anti-Terrorism Act) and RA 10168 (Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act)—in conjunction with regulatory powers like those exercised by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), amounts to lawfare. These mechanisms are being deployed not in service of justice, but as tools to entangle NGOs in endless litigation, freeze essential funding, and delegitimize lawful development work. The effect is tangible: vital services to underserved populations are delayed or denied, while long-standing community partnerships are destabilized.

Defend NGOs Alliance underscores that cases like this set a dangerous precedent for the entire development and humanitarian sector. When dismissed charges are revived and used against a development worker, it signals to NGOs that no amount of legal clearance or years of legitimate work provide protection from state prosecution.

The sustained use of terror-related laws, financial surveillance, and prosecutorial discretion against civil society actors creates an environment where NGOs are forced to operate under constant threat of closure, arrest, or financial disruption.

Defend NGOs Alliance will continue to document these patterns, engage relevant accountability mechanisms, and assert that development work, community organizing, and humanitarian assistance are not crimes—and must not be treated as such. #