The Philippines’ human rights situation is dire, with the number of extrajudicial killings, illegal arrests, and attacks against activists and critics unparalleled since the fall of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986.
This is made worse by the Duterte government’s inadequate and militarized response to the pandemic that has brought us to this: more than a million COVID-19 cases by May 2. Failed contact tracing, confusing protocols, delayed assistance to those who needed it most, incoherent policies, lack of transparency, and a slow vaccine rollout – all these have led to the abuse of basic human rights: the right to live, to work, to study, and to be protected by the state.
What can we do?
Several human rights groups and organizations including MovePH, Rappler’s civic engagement arm, have banded together for the “#CourageON: No lockdown on rights” coalition. The coalition aims to keep watch on abuses and violations and identify opportunities for collective action to promote and defend human rights.
Bookmark and refresh this page for campaigns, action points, and insights from partners of the #CourageON coalition, as well as news updates on the human rights situation in the Philippines.
LATEST UPDATES
Journalists school Roque: Look around, we are being censored
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) schooled Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque about the censorship of journalists in the Philippines after he denied in a recent press conference that this was happening.
“Attorney Harry Roque, the Philippine press has been under siege under your principal for the last five years. And if you refuse to listen to the journalists whom you used to represent, just ask your former colleagues in the human rights community,” the NUJP said in a statement on Tuesday, October 12.
NUJP was reacting to the sweeping claim of Roque – a former human rights lawyer who once represented journalists – that “no one has ever been censored in the Philippines.”
Nearly all girls and young women – at 95% – in the Philippines said misinformation and disinformation online had a negative effect on them, a new Plan International report found.
The 2021 “Truth Gap” report also said more than half or 54% were extremely or very concerned about false information.
The intensity of attacks hurled toward Jose Luis Martin “Chito” Gascon over the past five years would make any other person second-guess if the path he had chosen was still worth everything.
But for Chair Chito, as he was fondly called by his colleagues, investigating the widespread abuses under President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs was part of the huge responsibility as chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
Gascon died on Saturday, October 9, due to COVID-19 complications. He was 57.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) called as a superfluous process the new round of investigation of 50 drug war death cases that was the result of the Department of Justice or DOJ’s second review report.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra announced on October 3 that the hyped DOJ drug war review has found potential criminal liability in 50 cases of deaths during police anti-drug operations, involving 150 policemen.
But instead of filing criminal complaints, the DOJ endorsed the cases to the NBI for another round of case buildup. The NBI is part of the review panel, but was excluded in the examination of the original 52 case files shared to them by the Philippine National Police (PNP) five years after keeping files secret.
![[PODCAST] Beyond the Stories: Bakit wala pa ring pulis na nakakasuhan ang DOJ panel kaugnay ng drug war killings?](https://www.rappler.com/tachyon/2021/10/newsbreak-beyond-the-stories-square-with-topic2.jpg?fit=449%2C449)
