PRESS RELEASE: Defend NGOs Alliance stands in support of Leyte Center Development Inc.,

March 25, 2025

The Defend NGOs Alliance stands in support of the Leyte Center Development Inc., (LCDe) and their executive director, the national spokesperson of Defend NGOs Alliance Ms. Jazmin Jerusalem as they face trial against trumped up charges of financing terrorism.

LCDe has been at the forefront of development work in Leyte and Samar, providing socio-economic services and community-based disaster response management since 1988. During the Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 (Yolanda), LCDe was one of the main non-governmental organizations (NGOs) providing relief and rehabilitation to the distressed marginalized communities from basic goods to livelihood. Multiple award giving bodies recognized LCDe’s pivotal work during times of disaster. It has likewise received recognition and awards from the Philippine national government and local government. Miss Jerusalem herself is a UN Climate Heroine awardee and has been partners with their local government unit in disaster response projects.

However, in May of 2024, Ms. Jazmin Jerusalem and four LCDe staff were charged with financing terrorism. LCDE's bank accounts and their personal bank accounts were ordered frozen by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), alleging that they have been giving resources to the Communist New People's Army. While the original charges against them were dismissed by a Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Tacloban, the case was refiled, with the same evidence and witnesses, but this time singling out Ms. Jerusalem, and catapulting LCDe into a long legal battle. Even the registration of LCDe's service vehicle used for delivering relief goods was canceled in orders of the AMLC, according to Ms. Jerusalem.

In a similar judicial case of financing terrorism, the charges against two staff members, Federico Salvilla and Perla Pavillar of the rural development NGO Paghidaet sa Kauswagan Development, Inc., (PDG, Inc.), and Dharyl Albanez were dismissed by the RTC branch 31 of Iloilo City last March 14, 2025, declaring the charges baseless.

The charges against LCDe and PDG, along with other baseless judicial cases, are seen as part of the escalating crackdown by state forces on progressive organizations, activists, human rights defenders and communities asserting people’s rights to development. Since 2023 development workers from long standing grassroots based CSOs like the Community Empowerment Resource Network (CERNET), Katinnulong Daguiti Umili iti Amianan, Inc. (KADUAMI) and the Cordillera People's Alliance (CPA), have also been charged with terrorism and terrorism financing.

A study of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) and the Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG) also reveals that over 69 development workers from 21 NGOs have been harassed with charges related to terrorism, spanning from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

The continuing harassment of development workers proves that no distinction or consideration to the legalities are provided. Baseless charges continue that hinder development organizations from delivering services including capacity building to the marginalized communities.

"The Defend NGOs Alliance strongly condemn other forms of harassment through surveillance and red-tagging of NGOs, threatening their safety and their work. As such, we call on civil society organizations (CSOs) to stand in solidarity with NGOs currently facing persecution on trumped up charges, harassment, red-tagging and surveillance", says Rochelle Porras, Council for People's Development and Governance (CPDG) Spokesperson for the Defend NGOs Alliance.

"We are partners in development, we are not terrorists. Together let us stand in solidarity with development workers facing trumped up charges,” ends Porras.