BAGUIO CITY—Police arrested labor leader and folk musician Michael “Mike” Cabangon at his home in Baguio City on Dec. 27 on a charge of terrorism financing, according to the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA).
Cabangon, spokesperson of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Cordillera and an advocate for workers’ and transport rights, was served a warrant of arrest dated Dec. 26, 2025, and signed by Presiding Judge Maria Corazon Mata Labrador of Regional Trial Court Branch 18 in Batac, Ilocos Norte. He is out on bail.
The charge against Cabangon stemmed from a case filed under the Terrorist Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012 (TFPSA).
Per the CHRA, two complaints for alleged violations of the TFPSA were filed against Cabangon last Feb. 15. One complaint was dismissed by the prosecution. The other, filed by the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Regional Field Unit 14, with military assets named as witnesses, is due for trial.
Human rights, labor, indigenous and cultural groups described the charge as “false and baseless” and part of a pattern of cases filed against activists in Northern Luzon.
KMU Cordillera said that Cabangon’s case “is yet another streak of TFPSA cases against activists in Northern Luzon” and that the law is increasingly being weaponized to silence dissent.
Cabangon is the 12th person to be charged with terrorism financing in Northern Luzon since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office. Four of them, including Cabangon, a storekeeper and an inn owner, are from the Cordillera; the rest are members of people’s groups and nongovernment organizations in the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley.
“Mike is not a criminal. Activists are not criminals,” the Dap-ayan ti Kultura iti Kordilyera (DKK) said.
As a transport leader, Cabangon was involved in campaigns opposing the jeepney phaseout in Baguio. He also belongs to Ebkas Waya (Speak Free), a group of folk musicians and a member of DKK, an internationally recognized alliance of cultural workers in the Cordillera.
The Cordillera Peoples Alliance said Cabangon’s arrest comes at a time when the public is demanding accountability for corruption. “…Those guilty of corruption should be the ones arrested and jailed, not activists,” it said.
All the groups called for the immediate dropping of the charge against Cabangon and other activists and for the repeal of what they called “repressive terror laws,” particularly the TFPSA and the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
They appealed for public support for Cabangon’s legal defense.
