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…
Resignation or termination. These were the two options President Duterte gave officials of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), which has been rocked by a multibillion-peso fraudulent scam involving dead kidney patients. Duterte was to meet last night with the PhilHealth board, including ex-officio members, at Malacañang to hear the full report of the agency…
GENEVA (7 June 2019) – UN human rights experts* today called on the United Nations to establish an independent investigation into human rights violations in the Philippines, citing a sharp deterioration in the situation of human rights across the country, including sustained attacks on people and institutions defending human rights. “Given the scale and seriousness…
GENEVA — A group of United Nations human rights experts called on Friday for an international inquiry into the state of human rights in the Philippines because of the “staggering number” of unlawful killings by the security services and official attacks on people and institutions who defend human rights there. In a strongly worded condemnation…
“Disyembre pa lamang ng taong 2015 ay ipinangako na ng noo’y Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte ang umento sa sahod ng mga guro kung siya ay magiging pangulo. Hanggang ngayon ay naghihintay kami sa katuparan ng pangakong ito.” Said Benjo Basas, the national Chairperson of the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC). As the new school year…
President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday deviated from the traditional practice of personally handing out diplomas to graduates of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA). Duterte, the commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces, delegated this function for the first time to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who distributed the diplomas to most of the 261 members of the…
Filipinos are used to and appreciate President Rodrigo Duterte talking about rape to lighten the mood and, anyway, nobody can tell him what he can and cannot say, top officials said Tuesday. On Sunday, Duterte pretended to read out offenses by Philippine Military Academy cadets that the president traditionally pardons at the military academy’s graduation…
At least 8 rights guaranteed by the Philippine Constitution have been violated by the enforcement of government policies in its intensified anti-drug campaign, showed a study by the Ateneo Human Rights Center (AHRC) released Friday. In examining the legal framework of “Oplan Tokhang,” government’s controversial knock-and-plead crackdown on drug suspects, AHRC said authorities violate the…
“It’s bad when the government lies through its paid PR to manipulate its people.” Rappler’s Chief Executive Officer Maria Ressa said this after Malacañang affirmed the matrix that linked journalists and media organizations to a destabilization plot against Presidente Rodrigo Duterte and his administration. Earlier, Malacañang revealed that the “Oust-Duterte” matrix published in the Manila…
News heads Maria Ressa of Rappler and Ellen Tordesillas of Vera Files on Monday, April 22, slammed the government over a matrix linking them and other journalists to an alleged plot to oust President Rodrigo Duterte. Aside from Rappler and Vera Files, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) was also implicated in the matrix.…
A group of lawyers accused of plotting the ouster of President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday called the claims “rubbish,” as they claimed they were too busy defending human rights. The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers hit a report on Manila Times, which quoted “highly placed source in the Office of the President” that “there is…
PCIJ Statement on The Manila Times‘s report on “Oust-Duterte plot”, 22 April 2019 The Manila Times’s “association matrix” and story about a supposed “oust-Duterte plot” that include journalists with the PCIJ are wrong on many points. 1. PCIJ had absolutely not nor ever received any email from Ms. Ellen Tordesillas on the link to the…
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism has responded to what it called President Rodrigo Duterte’s “broadsides” aimed at PCIJ’s recent reports on the Duterte family’s wealth, saying there was no reason for the President to “lose his cool”. “The PCIJ report was built on the Dutertes’ own declarations in their SALNs (Statements of Assets, Liabilities,…
Five United States senators introduced a bipartisan resolution highlighting human rights concerns in the Philippines and urging the Duterte administration to respect freedom of expression. US Sens. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) this week filed the six-page resolution, which specifically raised the cases of…
Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David was temporarily banned from Facebook on Thursday after his criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte went viral. A report by CBCP News said the prelate lost access to his Facebook account for about 2 hours after the social media giant accused him of “phishing” or fraudulently attempting to acquire sensitive information.…
ICC exit removes protection for Filipinos-iDEFEND The Philippines’ withdrawal from its membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC) means that an important legal mechanism enforcing some of the most advanced international cooperation for justice will be out of reach for Filipinos, especially those working in dangerous and conflict-ridden countries. Although withdrawing from the ICC will…
President Duterte’s release of “narco list” of politicians is an outrageous attempt to influence local elections in May Statement from Human Rights Watch on Duterte’s release of “narco list” of politicians: President Duterte’s naming of politicians he accuses of involvement in illegal drugs is an outrageous attempt to influence local elections in May. More critically,…
Priests recount death threats Three priests who have received death threats allegedly for their criticism of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs declared that they are not scared. Fathers Robert Reyes, Flavie Villanueva and Albert Alejo yesterday went public and said that they have been receiving death threats and even monitored suspicious men lurking near…
ICC likely to come after Duterte despite PH split – lawyer The International Criminal Court is likely to continue investigating President Rodrigo Duterte for alleged crimes against humanity even after the Philippines’ withdrawal from the tribunal takes effect a week from now, a rights lawyer said Sunday. The Hague-based ICC launched last year a preliminary…
More priests bare death threats under Duterte’s watch More Catholic priests came out on Monday, March 11, to expose death threats against them under the watch of President Rodrigo Duterte. Fathers Flavie Villanueva, Robert Reyes, and Albert Alejo appeared in a press conference at the Saint Vincent School of Theology in Tandang Sora, Quezon City,…
