Even within the maximum security compound of the New Bilibid Prison, a separate area is reserved for those deemed most dangerous by the government—political prisoners.

Here, in small 2-meter by 3-meter rooms, separated from other maximum security prisoners by double locks, Generoso Gozo Granado along with other political prisoners lived with barely any visitors.

Under these inhumane conditions and negligence by prison officials, Granado suffered a heart attack in the early morning of March 8. Prison guards could not bring him out until it was too late. He was 67.

“Wala silang natatanggap na regular medication for their sickness like hypertension. Pero kahit may intake [of medicine], the very congested and difficult conditions are already very difficult for the elderly,”  Fides Lim, spokesperson of political prisoner advocate group Kapatid, told the Collegian.

Granado, fondly called ”Ka Pay” by those in the movement, was a farmer-activist who had advocated for Bikolano peasants since the 1980s. His work eventually landed him in hot water when the government arrested him on trumped-up charges on August 25, 2004.

As a Sorsogon native, Ka Pay ended up in a Muntinlupa penitentiary as a “tawid-dagat,” a term for political prisoners incarcerated by the state far from their home area to prevent them from having contact with the outside world.

The same stories of planted evidence, red-tagging, and judicial manipulation ring true today, said Lim, with agencies, such as the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, legitimizing these human rights violations.

Because of this, the number of political prisoners continues to rise, with 99 arrested since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s term began, and a total of 786 jailed as of February 2024 according to human rights group Karapatan.

“Why cannot the government confront the actual issues being raised, that you will cause the arrests of people who are simply trying to address these problems by helping people?” Lim lamented.

Instead, these prisoners remain in jail as the government charges them with nonbailable crimes, such as illegal possession of firearms and murder. They then continue to be subjected to rights violations inside prisons due to arbitrary rules such as a strip search for visitors.

Worse, overcrowding, lack of potable water, and a measly food and medical allowance further deducted by corruption mean that most political prisoners live in inhumane conditions. 

According to Lim, the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) doctor said in 2019 that 5,200 prisoners die per year at the New Bilibid Prison. Furthermore, 2.4 percent of the country’s inmates died in 2021, significantly higher than the internationally accepted figure of 0.2 percent.

Unfortunately, these conditions caught up to Ka Pay. He was supposed to be released on humanitarian grounds as he already had arthritis and hypertension. A psychological interview and a BuCor clearance was all that was needed, but it was too late.

”[Ka Pay] was one of the nameless [in the movement]. So nagulat ako doon sa continuous flow of tributes [for him]. It shows that no one is too small or too known to be recognized because of the service and the words that they do for their fellow human beings,” Lim said. ●

First published in the March 21, 2024 print edition of the Collegian.