Philippines Uses ‘Drug War’ Tactics to Fight Covid-19 Police to Go House-to-House, Rely on Neighbor Reporting By Phil Robertson Deputy Asia Director Human Rights Watch @reaproy The Philippine government announced this week that police will conduct house-to-house searches for people who might have been infected with the novel coronavirus and then forcibly relocate them to…
Human rights organisations call for release of activist Teresita Naul ahead of court case and major global campaign #StandAsMyWitness CIVICUS, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Karapatan and other human rights organisations in the Philippines call for the release of Teresita Naul, a human rights defender from the Philippines, ahead of her court case on 17…
Green groups denounce DENR plan to mine and dredge rivers as economic stimulus: Mining will not stimulate economic recovery QUEZON CITY – Alyansa Tigil Mina denounced the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) plan to push for more mining and river dredging to jumpstart economic recovery due to COVID19. ATM said that the minuscule…
Contractual, part-time professors slam alleged University discrimination Amidst the crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, some instructors from one of the country’s leading state universities cried foul over the alleged neglect, injustice and discrimination. The management of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), the country’s largest university system is criticized by its own…
Open letter to Department of Justice: Decongest jails in the Philippines to contain the COVID-19 pandemic To: THE HONORABLE MENARDO GUEVARRA, Secretary, Department of Justice Padre Faura Street, Ermita, Manila 1000 The Philippines 6 May 2020 Re: Decongest jails in the Philippines to contain the COVID-19 pandemic Dear Hon. Secretary Guevarra We, the Asian Forum…
Lagman: NTC must not be the scapegoat for the house leadership’s dereliction The National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) must not be used as the scapegoat for the patent failure of the leadership of the House of Representatives to resolutely push for the seasonable renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise. There is no other solution to the dilemma of…
Estado ng Kalikasan – Mayu Uno Virtual Rally – Pagbabahagi ng ATM/Kalipunan 1 Isang maka-kalikasan at mapag-palayang araw sa ating lahat. Nakiki-isa ang ATM at marami pang ibang maka-kalikasang grupo sa paggunita ng Araw ng Paggawa. Kasama rin po natin ang KALIPUNAN ng mga Masang Kilusan sa hanay natin ngayon. 2. Maganda ang paunang paliwanag…
Philippines: Arrests and detention Marred International Labor Day 2020 Seventy-six (76) were arrested and detained yesterday in separate incidents, — the biggest number of arrests in the recent history of Labor Day celebrations in the Philippines. Ten (10) volunteers of CURE COVID, a citizens’ alliance that included workers who were running a Community Kitchen and…
Six months on: defending the Philippines For most of us, government ‘lockdowns’ are an extraordinary reality of the COVID-19 pandemic. But for land and environmental defenders already facing threats, fear is rife that the crisis could be manipulated to put them at even greater risk. Six months on from the publication of ‘Defending the Philippines’,…
More quarantine violations logged than individuals tested for COVID-19; increased health capacity, testing, and social amelioration needed over victim-blaming in a pandemic setting Three days since the end of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine, comparable data and statistics were released by different government authorities regarding the situation. Law enforcement authorities revealed today that from 17…
This year’s World Press Freedom Day takes on a special meaning around a world in quarantine. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries have been forced to go on lockdown, close borders, discourage physical contact and mass gatherings, and resort to other measures that may have the incidental effect of concentrating power to a few. Never…
Education in the New Normal: Address Inequities and Gaps to Insure Accessibility While Transitioning to Digital, Virtual Mode We should have been alarmed when covid19 deaths in China, the country of origin of the virus, started to fill the news. But our government just took it for granted. It continues with the ‘business as usual’…
Workers Demand for Guaranteed Income, Protection, Respect for Rights Before Returning to Work “This year’s International Labor Day celebration is historically different, there will be no huge demonstrations on the streets in the Philippines and in other countries as well, due to the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the calls for a living wage,…
Philippines: Prison Deaths Unreported Amid Pandemic Reduce Prisoner Populations to Address Severe Health Concerns (Manila, April 29, 2020) – The Philippine government has not fully reported prison deaths, raising concerns that Covid-19 is spreading more quickly and widely in the country’s detention facilities, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should investigate prison deaths and…
NEWS RELEASE April 28, 2020 Assistance to private school teachers sought With the further extension to the extended quarantine community in most of Luzon resulting to work stoppage of almost the entire working population, teachers from private schools are among those who were badly hit by the eventual crisis. Thus, ATING GURO, a group of…
COVID19 crisis is not gender-neutral This document was prepared and documented by the Women’s Legal and Human Rights Bureau, Inc. (WLB) and four partner communities of WLB: (1) Ayta women in Cabangan, Zambales; (2) Post-Haiyan victim-survivors in Marabut, Samar; (3) Women farmers in Real, Nakar, Infanta, Quezon; and (4) Former overseas Filipino workers from Talisay,…
On the OSG Comment to the SC Petition for the Release of Prisoners The confirmed death of one Bilibid inmate from #COVID19 dramatizes the urgency of our Supreme Court petition to release the most vulnerable during the COVID-19 health crisis. No lockdown or even quarantine measures at this stage can contain the outbreak of the…
Labor group condemns arrest of PUP student leader The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) condemns the arrest of Rexon Aumentado, a PUP student leader and a volunteer in helping students stranded in PUP dorms when ECQ was declared on March 16. Aumentado was detained at PCP #8 in Sta. Mesa Manila since yesterday is waiting…
Rest easy, soldier: Netizens cry #JusticeForWinstonRagos Filipinos online demanded justice for Winston Ragos, the soldier who was killed by a cop in Quezon City over quarantine rules on Tuesday, April 21. On Thursday, April 23, Ragos’ mother Merlyn said his son, a Marawi siege veteran who was not mentally stable, would not have been killed…
Arrests of relief ops volunteers, film writer show Duterte regime’s anti-people face amid COVID-19 pandemic Human rights watchdog Karapatan decried the government’s continuing militarist response to the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic following the illegal arrest of volunteers set to distribute humanitarian aid to urban poor and peasant communities in Norzagaray, Bulacan as well as…
