News
Fake news and social media in the electoral campaigns
Pandemic-related limitations in the campaigning regarding the May 2022 elections will intensify the role of social media. 90% of the Filipino population is active on social media, with 81% using Facebook. In addition, according to a 2017 study, the trust in social...
No improvement for press freedom: Journalist murdered and libel law under criticism
Once again, a journalist was murdered. Jesus Malabanan was shot dead at home in his small store in Calbayong City, Samar, in the early evening of Dec. 8, 2021. Malabanan had long worked for the British news agency Reuters, and also for The Manila Times, as a...
Steps to legally protect human rights defenders
On June 10, 2021, a court in Agusan del Sur acquitted 17 human rights defenders and employees of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Some of them had been imprisoned for up to a year and seven months. Only months later (in early December 2021) their lawyers were...
The so-called war on drugs continues to catch international attention
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) counts a total of 6,215 deaths in the so-called war on drugs between July 2016 and October 2021. However, calculations by human rights organizations as well as the ICC suggest a much higher number of extralegal killings...
International Criminal Court (ICC) suspends investigation
The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on November 18, 2021 that it would temporarily halt the investigation into crimes against humanity - just two months after the investigation began. A request was made through the Philippine Ambassador to the...
Anti-Terrorism Act declared partially unconstitutional
On December 7, 2021, the Supreme Court (SC) voted on the 37 petitions filed against the controversial Anti-Terror Law. The law was declared partially unconstitutional. However, this only affects two sections: firstly, that the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) can list...
Murdered Journalist and Discussions on Repression and Censorship of the Press
On October 30, 2021, journalist Orlando Dinoy was killed with six gunshots in his apartment in Balsan, Davao del Sur. He was a reporter for Newsline Philippines, an anchor at Radio Energy FM in Digos City, and had worked for SunStar Davao with the Philippine Daily...
Court drops one of two charges against “Bloody Sunday” activists
Erlindo "Lino" Baez and Wilfredo Capareño were arrested together by 50 police officers in Quezon on October 6, 2021. They allegedly found weapons, which Baez and Capareño deny. Capareño has long been active in working with peasants. In 2019, he was accused of being a...
Counterinsurgency and NTF-ELCAC remain under criticism
For months, criticism of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and calls to abolish this body have been growing louder. The Senate Finance Committee approved a cut in the NTF-ELCAC budget from 28 to 4 billion pesos. The surplus...
Human rights commission uncovers patterns in extralegal killings
On November 2, 2021, the Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) released the results of investigations into 579 cases in the regions of Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon. These three regions recorded the highest number of extralegal killings in the...
United Nations Joint Program (UN JP) Begins – DOJ Releases 52 Cases
The 45th session of the UN Human Rights Council approved the first Joint Programme (UN JP) between the Philippines and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR). The collaboration within the three-year program began in July 2021. The UN JP aims to...
Maria Ressa receives the Nobel Peace Prize
On October 8, 2021, the Nobel Committee in Oslo awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the first time in 86 years to two journalists: Philippine journalist Maria Ressa and her Russian colleague Dmitry Muratov. In doing so, the committee recognized Ressa's efforts in her...
48th session of the UN Human Rights Council
Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN OHCHR), said on October 7 during the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council that she remains concerned by continuing reports of serious human rights violations in the Philippines. She...
Chito Gascon, chair of the Commission on Human Rights, dies at 57
At the age of 57, Cito Gascon died on October 9, 2021, following a COVID 19 infection. Since 2015, the lawyer had been chairman of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) - his term would have ended in May 2022. As a fierce critic of Dutertes so-called war on...
Investigation into police operations of the so-called war on drugs
The Department of Justice (DOJ) concluded its investigation into 50 cases of illegal-drug operations resulting in death. Without releasing the related report or disclosing details, DOJ Undersecretary Adrian Sugay summarized the investigation's findings on October 3,...
Divisive ploy in Lumad communities: 80-year-old Bai Bibyaon rebuffs allegations
Bai Bibyaon, the 80-year-old leader of the Manobo (a tribe belonging to the indigenous Lumads), is fighting back against allegations that she is being held against her will. She is voluntarily staying with the "Bakwit School" at the University of the...
On the death of Chito Gascon
The Aktionsbündnis Menschenrechte – Philippinen (AMP) mourns the death of Commission on Human Rights chairperson Jose Luis Martin “Chito” Gascon who died last Saturday, October 9, 2021, due to COVID-19. We express our condolences to his family, friends, and...
International Criminal Court (ICC) opens investigations
Update November 2021: In Arturo Lascañas' 186-page affidavit, the former high-ranking police officer who served in Davao City for 35 years states that he was involved in murders as one of the first members of the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS). Moreover, his...
DG Trade proposes new GSP scheme
EU DG Trade proposed a new EU GSP scheme on Septembre 22, 2021. The European Parliament and the Council will discuss the proposal. The current GSP+ scheme expires on December 31, 2023. Once adopted, the new GSP Regulation will apply from 1 January 2024. New aspects...
Listing of NDFP as terrorist group an “antipeace act”
On June 23 the controversial Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) listed the the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) as a terrorist group in their Resolution Nr. 21, which they published later. Since 1992 the NDFP plays an essential role in tackling the roots...