POTOTAN, Iloilo, Philippines — Eight political detainees inside the Iloilo Provincial Integrated Jail in Pototan town went on hunger strike even as they asked government to grant all political prisoners general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty.

Said detainees, namely, Jomer Begayo, Jojie Belo, Roger Belo, Dennis Dote, Cirila Estrada, Jose Gabion, Bernard Gicalao, and James Latumbo will abstain from food in an effort to get President Benigno Aquino III to release them from detention for having been “wrongly accused of such political offenses” as rebellion and sedition.

“Most of us have been made victims of political repression and state terrorism in reaction to our political activism, dissent, criticism, and assertion of human rights,” they said.

Human rights groups Panay Alliance-Karapatan said there are currently 30 political detainees in various parts within Western Visayas.

Reylan Vergara, Panay Alliance-Karapatan secretary general, noted that the arrest and detention of majority of the political detainees were based on the assumption that they were sympathizers of the New People’s Army (NPA).

Vergara urged the Aquino administration to review their cases and subsequently free them from detention.

They strongly reiterate their appeal for the administration to issue amnesty similar to what former President Corazon Aquino when she assumed the Presidency in 1983.

The hunger strike staged by said political detainees in Iloilo began last September 13 and ended yesterday, September 21, the 39th anniversary of former strongman Ferdinand Marcos’ putting the country under martial rule.