News
Dan Balucio released
The release of United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP) Pastor Dan Balucio on August 13, 2021 is a judicial ruling in favor of an unjustly accused and imprisoned activist. Balucio is part of the civil society movement in disaster relief, advocates for those...
Elena Tijamo reported dead after a year of forced disappearance
More than a year after Elena Tijamo had been kidnapped, her family confirmed her death on August 30, 2021, which happens to be the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. Tijamo was a program coordinator and the Community Radio coordinator of...
Impunity of police officers continues
The Philippine judicial and police apparatus continues to face strong criticism despite the Department of Justice's (DOJ) review of extrajudicial killings by law enforcement officials in the so-called war on drugs. The Philippine National Police (PNP) only made less...
Another human rights lawyer shot in Cebu
The human rights lawyer Rex Fernandez was shot dead in Cebu City on August 26, 2021. In the late afternoon two unidentified motorcyclists ambushed Fernandez and his driver, who was rushed to the hospital. Fernandez was a founding member of the National Union of...
Beginning of the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council
The 48th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) started last week in Geneva on September 13 and will be closed on October 8. It is to be expected that the human rights situation in the Philippines will be discussed in Item 10 on October 7. As a...
Her voice carries on
Anniversary of the murder of Zara Alvarez The Philippine human rights defender, teacher, and single mother, Zara Alvarez, was killed by unidentified perpetrators near her apartment in Bacolod City, Negros Island (Philippines) one year ago, on August 17, 2020. When we,...
Detention of two UCCP Pastors and three other human rights defenders in June
United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) Pastor Benjie Gomez was arrested on June 6, 2021, in Nothern Zamboanga. Gomez, administrative pastor and Lumad advocate, had an arrest warrant for alleged murder. He was already arrested upon trumped-up charges back in...
Philippines again under supervision because of ‚gray‘ financial flows
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a Paris-based dirty money watchdog, decided on June 25, 2021, to include the Philippines on it’s “gray list” again. After failing to properly “address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering,...
Duterte one of the 37 „Press freedom predators“
Reporters Sans Frontière (RSF; Reporters Without Borders) published its list of global "Press freedom predators" on July 5, 2021. This year Rodrigo Duterte was listed for the first time as a "predator since taking office," alongside 36 other heads of government or...
Two minors killed in government operation
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is deeply concerned by the death of Johndy Maglinte Helis, 16 years old, and Angel Rivas, 12 years old. UNICEF calls on the Philippine government to hold accountable the officers involved and points to the Convention on the...
Updates on the 2022 elections
Update February 2022: Election campaign On February 8, 2022, the election campaign officially began. There are now three months left for candidates to win votes from an electorate of around 65 million people. Candidates are running for more than 18,000 offices at...
Formation of a new paramilitary unit
Human rights organizations, the Philippine National Commission on Human Rights (CHR), and members of the Senate and House of Representatives are concerned about the new formation of the Global Coalition of Lingkod Bayan Advocacy Support Groups and Force Multipliers...
International Criminal Court (ICC) opens investigation
Update September 2021: On September 15, 2021, the pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced its decision: an investigation into crimes against humanity of murder between November 1, 2011 and March 16, 2016 will take place. In 41 pages, the...
Duterte’s spokesman nominated for UN’s International Law Commission
Duterte and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin officially nominated Harry Roque, presidential spokesman, to be elected as a member of the International Law Commission (ILC) of the United Nations (UN) in November 2021 for a five-year term starting January 2023....
Duterte lifts ban on new mining agreements
With signing the Executive Order No. 30 (EO 30) on April 14, Rodrigo Duterte lifts a nine year’s ban on new mining projects. The possibility of new mining deals and the revisions of existing contracts and agreements is alarming for environmentalists. Dr. Jean Lindo,...
Red-Tagging of Community Pantries
Since mid-April, Community Pantries have been springing up all over the Philippines: self-organized, donation-based food distribution points to support people who have no financial means (anymore) due to the pandemic. On April 14, Ana Patricia Non initiated the first...
Human rights violations during the Enhanced Community Quarantine
Senator Leila de Lima is calling for an investigation into the human rights violations during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), which has been extended until April 11. Two people have died after being punished by police officers for violating the imposed...
Extrajudicial killings (EJK) in May
On April 15, the activist Jesus Passon Jr was shot dead by unidentified motorcyclists in Silay City in Negros Occidental. The series of extrajudicial killings in the severely affected Negros Occidental continues. Passon was a member of the Pasil Homeowners Association...
186 killings within the first quarter of 2021
The number of drug-related killings reached 186 for the first three months of the year 2021, according to the research and documentation project Dahas. Compared to the last quartal of 2020 this means an increase of 44 %. With 137 cases, the majority of the murders...
Judicial system still fails to protect threatened activists
The rights group Karapatan together with women's groups network Gabriela and the church-based CSO Rural Missionaries of the Philippines reached out to the Supreme Court on April 26, 2021, for the second time to grant their members protection due to the continuous...