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Friends and kin of child rights activists Sally Ujano in a press conference in Quezon City on July 10, 2025.
Free Sally Ujano
MANILA, Philippines — Several groups and the family of child rights advocate Sally Ujano are calling for her release from jail after more than a year of detention.
In a press conference on Thursday, July 10, Ujano’s relatives and several child and women’s rights advocates appealed for her humanitarian release, saying she was convicted of trumped-up charges and is in fragile health.
The 67-year-old has been imprisoned for over a year following her conviction for the crime of rebellion.
“Alam niyo kung saan siya galing noong umagang-umaga nahuli siya? Nagja-jogging… nagja-jogging,” Gonzales said.
(Do you know where she came from early that morning when she was arrested? She was jogging… she was jogging.)
Ujano’s family also appealed to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to grant her immediate release on humanitarian grounds.
“As president and leader of our nation, you have the power to exercise compassion and uphold justice by ensuring her immediate release. Her case is a matter of humanitarian concern, given her age, health condition, peaceful record and decades-long service to the public good,” the family said.
According to Ronie Rosero of the Commission on Human Rights, the family has appealed Ujano’s conviction before the Court of Appeals.
Fragile health. Her son, Klaro Ujano, said the child rights defender suffers from hypertension and heart arrhythmia.
She also has osteoarthritis and scoliosis, conditions reflected in her old medical records but not recognized by the Bureau of Corrections' infirmary.
Arrested by plainclothes police. Ujano was arrested on Nov. 14, 2021, by plainclothes police who reportedly did not present any identification.
The arrest was based on a rebellion charge over her alleged involvement in an ambush of two military personnel in Quezon province in 2005.
The rebellion case was filed in 2006 for alleged acts committed in Lucena, which are claims that her family strongly denies.
According to one of her sons, Kim, police officers in civilian clothes blocked Sally’s vehicle and served the warrant without proper identification.
The arrest took place during a weekend amid the enhanced community quarantine at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Who is Sally Ujano? Ujano served as executive director of the Women’s Crisis Center from 2000 to 2007 and was national coordinator of the Philippines Against Child Trafficking from 2008 to 2024.
In 2023, she was recognized by UN Women – Philippines for her significant efforts in human rights advocacy.
She was awarded the title of Feminist Champion against Gender-Based Violence, alongside other rights workers.
She was also instrumental in lobbying for key legislation, including the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004.
