Rights group raises alarm on possible coercion of abducted community organizer

Human rights alliance KARAPATAN expressed alarm over the possibility that former University of the Philippines student leader and community organizer Faye Tallow, who was arrested without warrant in Camarines Norte on September 4, 2025, is being subjected to intense coercion by her military and police captors.

KARAPATAN earlier had issued a press statement demanding that Faye be surfaced, since her whereabouts as of September 9, 2025 could still not be ascertained. “According to reports from Karapatan-Bicol, a warrant for attempted homicide  issued by a court in Lopez, Quezon was only presented to Tallow 24 hours after she was arrested and detained at an undisclosed location,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay. “This alone is an irregularity and a violation of Tallow’s rights, on top of her continuing arbitrary detention.”

“KARAPATAN reiterates its demand that Faye Tallow be surfaced and not kept in a secret place of detention, where she is beyond the protection of the law and can easily be tortured, threatened or coerced,” asserted Palabay. “The military and police have been known to threaten to kill or harm even family members of arrested and abducted persons to coerce the victims to ‘cooperate’,” Palabay said. “This despicable practice must stop.”