After spending nearly a month in the hands of her Philippine military captors, we are relieved that Chantal has now been released and is back in the U.S to be reunited with her loved ones and community. Thousands came together to demand her immediate surfacing and waged a tireless campaign for her release and return, knowing that every second she spent under military custody was a danger to her physical and psychological well-being.

However, Chantal and the communities and organizations she was with are still in danger. We condemn the veiled threats made in the NTF-ELCAC's statement that Chantal may be persecuted or face criminal accountability once she arrives in the U.S., on the premise of her supposed "admissions" to being involved with Filipino revolutionary organizations.

We must not blindly believe that Chantal actually made the "disclosures" cited by the NTF-ELCAC. As attested to by other survivors of military abduction—like Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, who were tortured and coerced to lie about their alleged affiliations—any document signed or statements made while under military custody are questionable, because these were done under duress and without access to trusted lawyers. We reiterate that Chantal was being held by the very same army that dropped bombs on her and the indigenous communities she chose to serve in the first place.

Ultimately, we assert that it is not a crime for migrant youth to go to the homeland to learn about the conditions of the most exploited firsthand. Hindi krimen umuwi.