Ayon kay Sec. Leonor Briones, ang sinasabing pagkabulok ng may tatlong milyong aklat sa imbakan ng DepEd ay isa lamang umanong drama. Bahagi ito ng kanyang pahayag sa pagharap niya sa Senado kahapon. Muli niyang minaliit ang usapin na diumano ay pinalala lamang ng mga ulat sa pahayagan at mga komentaryo. Subalit hindi iyan ang…
Quezon City. Reducing the massive 9.2 million kilos of waste produced on a daily basis by Metro Manila’s 17 local government units (LGUs) is a daunting task but not totally impossible. Environmental health groups espousing the Zero Waste approach to resource management emphasized this point as national government agencies pressed the public to dispose of…
Quezon City – Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) supports the struggles of indigenous peoples all over the world. In their continuing journey to assert their right to self-determination and to defend their land, lives and culture, they have stood in front of destructive development projects and protect the forests, water and natural resources for everyone’s benefit.…
Join us in our twitter party, calling President Rodrigo Duterte to #StopMiningInDidipio and immediately cancel @OceanaGold ‘s FTAA. #EndMiningInDidipio! CANCEL OCEANAGOLD’S MINING CONTRACT NOW Respect the people’s will! Stop illegal operations in Didipio mines! Environmental and human rights groups in the Philippines support the resistance led by the Didipio Earth Savers Movement (DESAMA) and Didipio-Watch…
What’s in Negros Island that killings, violence and poverty keep on pounding the province and its people seems to have not known peace in their lives? Why is the State is using it as a laboratory or testing ground for something so dangerous that they seem desiring for the entire country? The series of extrajudicial…
The Philippine office of the papal charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) decried as “persecution” the criminal charges filed against some bishops and priests. ACN, a group that supports churches in difficult situations, came to the rescue of the clergymen who are accused of sedition and other crimes. “Such charges against them constitute…
MANILA – Cedric Tuazon is just 12 years old, but while his classmates are spending their weekends sleeping in or watching K-Pop, he’s thinking of ways to help address environmental problems. “I also have a lot of interests. I’m interested in different art forms like drawing… I am also interested in K-Pop,” Tuazon said. “But…
Eleven-year-old Jerry’s crime was breaking curfew laws after fleeing violence at home. His punishment? Being sent to a youth detention centre, where he says he endured sexual abuse. Officially called “Houses of Hope”, proponents in the Philippines say such facilities are places for reformation and education, but critics slam many of them as “hellholes” where…
Tatlong taong nagdaan, sanlaksang kasalanan ng gobyernong Duterte sa taumbayan. Inilunsad ang giyera kontra droga noong Hulyo 2016 bilang pangunahing programa ng gobyernong Duterte, alinsunod sa pangako niyang sugpuin ang illegal na kalakalan sa droga. Ang madugong kampanya ang pumaslang sa higit 27,000 Pilipino kabilang na ang higit 100 kabataan at mga sanggol, na tinagurian…
Years of painstaking efforts to pursue justice for the victims of the war on drugs won a crucial headway today as the 41st session of the UN Human Rights Council adopted resolution L20, seeking to report on the Philippines’ extrajudicial killings. The resolution, submitted by 39 countries headed by Iceland, urged the Philippine government to…
By Carlos H. Conde Philippines researcher Human Rights Watch Three people – an activist church worker, a provincial politician, and a businessman – were killed in separate attacks in the Philippines on Sunday by unidentified gunmen riding motorcycles. The media reported that on July 7, gunmen shot dead Salvador Romano, 42, in Negros Oriental, a…
By Carlos H. Conde On Sunday, a 3-year-old girl became the latest casualty of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” which has killed thousands over the past three years. Myka Ulpina died after being shot during a police raid targeting her father, Renato Dolofrina, in Rizal province, near Manila, media reports said. Police claimed…
Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso on Wednesday said he fully supports the campaign against illegal drugs by President Rodrigo Duterte but it must have respect for human rights. Moreno made the statement as he revealed that video karera machines and fruit (video) games were being used to sell and use drugs among the public.…
The In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement on Friday characterized the United Nations Human Rights Council’s decision to investigate President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs as a “huge victory” for the families of victims of extrajudicial killings. Interviewed on Balitanghali on Friday, iDEFEND spokesperson Ellecer “Budit” Carlos said his organization, as well as…
The UNHRC vote was the first great test of Duterte’s diplomatic investment in China, and it proved disastrous: China simply could not deliver the votes The denouement of the United Nations Human Rights Council vote instructing its High Commissioner to “prepare a comprehensive written report on the situation of human rights in the Philippines” was…
Members of the group Partido Manggagawa (PM) picketed this morning the main office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to demand that the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (NTIPC) be convened to investigate the killing of a union organizer in Cavite. The mass action coincides with the 40th day since the brutal shooting…
The labor rights NGO, Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) vehemently condemns the barbaric and brutal attack against the striking workers of Peerless Producers Manufacturing Corporation (PEPMACO), manufacturer of Champion brand detergent and other surfactants. At around 1:00 in the morning of June 28, 2019, hundreds of goons and security guards wearing masks…
More than five (5) years!!! after typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) ravaged part of central Philippines in November 2013, the 1,500 farmer and fisherfolk families of Sicogon Island, in Carles Iloilo, are threatened to lose their right to land, food, housing, and water. The families lost everything due to the typhoon and since that time they are…
Agency hides decision to allow mining in Nueva Vizcaya, despite expired mining contract Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) is deeply concerned and horrified by the lack of transparency and callousness of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), in allowing continued mining operations in Nueva Vizcaya despite the expiration of a mining contract there. Last…
HRW reaction to UN HRC opening statement on Philippines In her opening statement today at the 41st session of the UN Human Rights Council, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern about the “drug war” killings in the Philippines and supported the call by Special Rapporteurs for action by the Human Rights Council.…
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Monday, June 24, expressed concern over the “extraordinarily high number of deaths” in the Philippines in the context of President Rodrigo Duterte’s continuing anti-illegal drugs campaign. “Even the officially confirmed number of 5,425 deaths would be a matter of most serious concern for any country,”…
Coming out and navigating life in a world that continues to be prejudiced against the LGBTQ community isn’t easy. It’s even more difficult for many when they think about how their family – and parents, especially – would react. More often than not, it’s a journey. And this pride story, of Twitter user “Isko Speaks,”…
A network of civil society organizations remains in solidarity with the 22 fishermen from San Jose town in Occidental Mindoro who figured in an incident with a Chinese trawler in Recto Bank at the West Philippine Sea. “The fisherfolk sector provides food in our table, with the farmers, they are the backbone of our society.…
Pride can be a hard time for those who fall within the bisexual, pansexual, queer and sexually fluid community. Studies show that bi people make up nearly 50% of the LGBTQ community, but too often it can feel like we’re all alone, walking a line between being “too queer” or “not queer enough.” Bisexual people…
Inaanyayahan ng Kanyang Kabunyian Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle ang mga kabataan na makiisa sa paglulunsad ng Laudato Si Gen (Generation) – Pilipinas, ngayong ika-22 ng Hunyo, araw ng sabado. Ayon kay Cardinal Tagle, mahalagang matutunan ng mga kabataan kung paano maisasabuhay ang encyclical ng Kanyang Kabanalan Francisco na patungkol sa Kalikasan o ang…
