The Justice department has approved the request of the imprisoned wife and son of a farmer who had been a political prisoner for 16 years and who died of cardiac arrest on Sunday to attend his wake on Friday.
In a statement, Fides Lim, spokesperson of Kapatid, a support group for families and friends of political prisoners, asked the government to let them “grieve in peace and pay our last respects to a good father, a good husband and a kind, helpful and brave political prisoner whom his fellow inmates called Tatay.”
“He’s been in prison for 16 years and the only thing he wished for is to walk free and live with his family,” she said, referring to the deceased Jesus Alegre.
After months of illness, Mr. Alegre, a farmer from Negros Occidental, died of cardiac arrest on June 13 at 75 years.
Kapatid earlier said Mr. Alegre and his family had been “wrongfully incarcerated for 16 years.”
He, his 74-year-old wife and 47-year-old son were arrested in 2005 and were convicted of murdering a bodyguard in a land dispute case. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago