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…
Child rights advocates urge gov’t, public: Don’t forget child victims of online sexual abuse & exploitation amid pandemic 15 April 2020 – Child Rights Network (CRN), the largest alliance of organizations and agencies pushing for children’s rights legislation in the Philippines, calls on the national government, local government executives, and the private sector to step…
EcoWaste Coalition Says No to Burning COVID-19 Healthcare Waste in Incinerators and Crematories The non-profit environmental health group EcoWaste Coalition appealed to the authorities to recall or revoke an advisory, which if enforced, would allow the burning of COVID-19 healthcare waste in incinerators and crematories. Through a letter e-mailed to Department of Environment and Natural…
Higher Risk of OSAEC During COVID-19 Quarantine SaferKidsPH promotes child online safety in support of the national COVID-19 response SaferKidsPH, a consortium of Save the Children Philippines, The Asia Foundation and UNICEF, and funded by the Australian Government, is expanding its efforts to protect children against online sexual abuse and exploitation during the COVID-19 enhanced…
Senator Bong Go’s threat of “body bags” shows authorities’ dangerous COVID-19 response Responding to Philippine Senator Bong Go’s statement about having body bags available for “drug addicts or peddlers of fake news”, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns Ming Yu Hah said: “While hospitals are pleading for body bags and other emergency supplies, callous…
