News
Three Congress panels will investigate disinformation in the Philippines
The Philippine House of Representatives has launched an investigation into the spread of fake news and disinformation in the country. Three House panels – committees on public order, public information, and information and communications technology – will jointly...
Dismissal of terrorism financing case highlights crackdown on Philippine NGOs
The City Prosecutor's Office in Tacloban City has dropped charges against the Leyte Center for Development Inc. (LCDE) for alleged violations of the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012 (Republic Act No. 10168) due to insufficient evidence. In a...
Justice Secretary declares limited cooperation with ICC possible
In January 2025, the Philippine Coalition for the ICC (PCICC) urged the Marcos Jr. administration to expedite its cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to address the crimes committed during the previous administration's so-called “war on drugs.”...
Human rights violations still not addressed in 2024
In its World Report 2025, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stressed that Philippine President Marcos Jr. “initiated some human rights improvements in 2024 but failed to address past and ongoing violations.” Drug-related and extrajudicial killings associated with the so-called...
AMP-Statement: Human rights defenders keep disappearing under Philippines’ Marcos Jr.
The Aktionsbündnis Menschenrechte – Philippinen (AMP, German Action Network Human Rights-Philippines) is concerned about the alarmingly high number of disappeared human rights defenders in the Philippines since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in June 2022....
ICC appeal to Philippine police officers
The International Criminal Court (ICC) launched an appeal on November 29, 2024 to obtain further information from Philippine police officers and other state security forces on the human rights violations in the context of the so-called "war on drugs." The aim is to...
New terrorism financing charges and arrest of activists
On December 2, 2024, Sarah Abellon-Alikes, an activist of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), was indicted for alleged violations of the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression of Act (Republic Act No. 10168). An alleged former member of the communist armed...
Philippine media concerned about Meta’s termination of fact-checking in the US
The decision of the internet company Meta to stop working with fact-checkers on its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram in the US has also raised concerns among journalists and civil society organizations in the Philippines. In a statement on January 11,...
“Quad Committee” recommends charges against Rodrigo Duterte
On December 18, 2024, the so-called quad committee of the Philippine House of Representatives presented its first progress report on a joint investigation over the past months into the links between illegal drug trade, Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) as...
Possible consequences of Sara Duterte’s death threats
On November 23, 2024, in a digital press conference on her Facebook social media channel, Vice President Sara Duterte threatened to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, his wife, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Martin Romualdez, killed if she herself...
UN experts condemn abuse of Philippine counter-terrorism financing laws
On August 29, 2024, five United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteurs issued a public letter condemning the Philippine government's alleged abuse of laws to combat money-laundering and terrorism financing against 27 former and active members of the non-governmental...
New task force to investigate cases of extrajudicial killings in “war on drugs”
The Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) has set up a new task force to investigate extrajudicial killings under the former Duterte administration's so-called “war on drugs.” On November 4, 2024, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla signed Department Order No....
Former President Duterte confirms police reward system in his “war on drugs”
On November 13, 2024, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte testified in a hearing of the so-called “Quad Committee” in the House of Representatives on human rights violations in the so-called “war on drugs” during his term of office. Duterte admitted that...
Fourth human rights dialog between the EU and the Philippines, free trade agreement talks criticized
On October 30, 2024, the fourth Human Rights Dialogue between the European Union (EU) and the Philippines took place in Manila. The subcommittee meeting on good governance, rule of law, and human rights under the EU-Philippines Partnership and Cooperation Agreement...
Police hampers investigations of Commission on Human Rights
During a Senate hearing on October 28, 2024, the Chairperson of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Richard Palpal-latoc, reported that the Philippine National Police (PNP) often refuses to cooperate with the CHR. The lack of access to police reports,...
Senate hearing: Rodrigo Duterte makes concessions
So far, former President Rodrigo Duterte has not participated in the hearings of the so-called “Quad-Committee” of the Philippine House of Representatives on extrajudicial killings in the context of his anti-drug campaign but made a shocking statement as part of a...
Government silent on the disappearance of activists
Filipino activists James Jazmines and Felix Salaveria Jr. have been missing since the end of August 2024. According to the human rights organization Karapatan, Jazmines worked as an IT expert for a development organization, among others; Salaveria was an enthusiastic...
Conflict between the Duterte and Marcos dynasties heats up again
In the Philippines, tensions between the influential Duterte and Marcos political families have increased again. Vice President Sara Duterte said during a press conference in Manila on October 18, 2024 that she was considering digging up the body of Ferdinand Marcos...
Police reward system for drug-related killings exposed
As part of the ongoing hearings of the so-called "Quad-Committee" of the Philippine House of Representatives to investigate human rights violations in the context of the so-called “war on drugs” under former President Duterte's administration, former police chief...
Increasing “red-tagging” of trade unionists
In a recent report, the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) warns that Philippine government officials and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) have increasingly been harassing trade union leaders through the...