PISTON strongly condemns the arrest and the filing of fabricated cases against our member Felixberto “Felix” Consad. He was arrested on August 14 at his home in Sogod, Southern Leyte while caring for his grandchild.
Felix has been an active PISTON member since 2013 and was forced to relocate to Leyte in 2018 because of intensified red-tagging, surveillance, and harassment by state forces. The sudden imposition of baseless charges against a 61-year-old who is simply caring for his family is clearly an attempt to silence and smear activists. These manufactured cases are part of an ongoing campaign of state-led political persecution against organizers and unionists in the transport sector.
In fact, Felix’s wife, Rosanilla “Teacher Lai” Consad, a unionist and special education teacher, was previously charged in a similarly fabricated case that was later dismissed in 2021 for lack of evidence. The repeated targeting of the Consad family, their forced displacement, continued surveillance, and renewed prosecution strongly suggests the involvement or complicity of actors who profit from political red-tagging and the manufacture of false cases.
PISTON calls for the immediate dismissal of all fabricated charges against Felix and for an end to the use of the law as a tool to harass and silence leaders and organizers in the transport sector.