Amid coronavirus outbreak, President Rodrigo R. Duterte lashed out at Chel Diokno in a late-night address yesterday saying, “Diokno is talking like a janitor. You know why you didn’t win in the last elections? Because you have big teeth. The way you talk, half of your jaw is showing.” The president just used faulty logic…
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines denounces the criminalization of free speech and expression by the National Bureau of Investigation as disclosed by human rights lawyer Chel Diokno. News reports quoted Diokno as saying he had taken on the case of a netizen who had been subpoenaed by the National Bureau of Investigation…
Tuwiran nang nilantad ni Pangulong Duterte ang kawalang kakayahan ng gobyernong tugunan ang pinakamahahalagang usapin sa panahon ng pandemyang COVID19. Sa gitna ng kagutuman at kahirapang dulot ng Luzon lockdown ang tanging sagot ni Duterte sa mamamayang kumakalam ang sikmura ay pananakot at pandarahas. Subalit higit na pinsala ang inutil at militaristang tugon ni Duterte…
Human Rights Watch statement on Section 6 (6) of the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” signed by President Duterte on March 24, 2020: Section 6 (6) of the law punishes “individuals or groups creating, perpetuating, or spreading false information regarding the COVID-19 crisis on social media and other platforms, such information having no valid…
(Today, March 23, we are expecting Congress to hold a special session and grant emergency powers to Duterte as requested by Malacañang.) The supermajority in both Houses will ensure that the president will have his way, not out of deep concern for a people who face uncertainty due to the COVID19 pandemic but from a…
Workers who were forced into home quarantine without subsidies, in collective agony, already have a full view and had a taste of how disruptive and repressive Presidential power works during emergencies. The people never asked for it in the first place, nor will locked-down communities today demand a more extensive quarantine measure from the President.…
I have read a draft bill asking for emergency powers for the President. My initial analysis of the draft bill is that it contains provisions patently repugnant to the Constitution (I) for delegating Congress’ power of the purse to the President and (II) for delegating to the President legislative powers to declare acts as criminal.…
The unfolding output of the one-day special session in the House of Representatives is the grant of more emergency powers to President Rodrigo Duterte to combat COVID-19 as he requested in the Malacañang-crafted H.B. No. 6616, even as the validity of the virtual session and electronic voting of the House of Representatives is in legal…
More than a week after Enhanced Community Quarantine has been declared in Luzon and there has been damage done to the economic life of our citizens who were commandeered to stay at home, with no clear livelihood assistance, meanwhile local government units have been put in charge of providing food /food packs for their constituents…
The following overriding and critical questions about the COVID-19 pandemic afflicting the country need immediate candid answers from the Duterte administration: Why is the President’s Contingency Fund of P13 billion barely untouched when it was purposely appropriated to respond to calamities like the deadly novel coronavirus? Reliable sources reveal that only a low of P1…
President Duterte steadily marches towards authoritarian rule, with the Courts, the Executive branch and the Philippine Congress delivering one after the other, legislative, judicial and executive measures versus popular dissent and criticism. On February 10th Solicitor General Jose Calida filed a Quo Warranto petition before the Supreme Court seeking to forfeit the franchise of media…
PhilRights’ report The Killing State: 2019 Philippine Human Rights Situationer describes a worsening human rights situation creating a hostile environment for ordinary Filipinos. QUEZON CITY – President Duterte’s real legacy is the full-scale assault on people’s basic rights and the dismantling of democratic guarantees of Filipinos, the Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights) asserted. “If…
President Rodrigo Duterte’s latest tirade against ABS-CBN bears all the signs of a shakedown and raises questions over his real intentions for seeking to block the renewal of the broadcast network’s franchise. On Monday, December 30, speaking to earthquake victims in M’lang, Cotabato, Duterte did not so much threaten again, which he has repeatedly done…
Rodrigo R. Duterte is a most secretive President when it comes to the details of his wealth. To this day, eight months after the April 30 deadline for filing, he has not released a copy of his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) for 2018. By all indications, Duterte sticks out as the…
Closing ABS-CBN Would Degrade Philippines Press Freedom By Carlos H. Conde Researcher, Asia Division Human Rights Watch @condeHRW President Rodrigo Duterte ramped up his attack on the Philippine media, vowing to block the renewal of ABS-CBN, the country’s largest and most influential broadcast network. “Your franchise will end next year,” the president said on Tuesday.…
Vice President Robredo barely warmed her seat before President Duterte fired her as co-chairperson of the Interagency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs. Was his offer of involving her in finding solutions to the situation of drugs in the Philippines ever really serious? He didn’t even give Robredo the chance to show what she could do to…
Political persecution and killings of activists and human rights defenders have been consistently at the top of the government’s agenda since Rodrigo Duterte assumed the presidency in 2016. To date, more than 2,000 human rights defenders have already been attacked through various forms including threat, intimidation, harassment, trumped-up charges, and extrajudicial killing. The massive crackdown…
Unity statement of UPV-USC, LCCS, and student organizations against the doxxing and harassment targeting members of the Skimmers Academic Organization by State-sponsored trolls of the Duterte administration Last Wednesday, October 16, 2019, UP Visayas kicked off its Pahampang Season through the annual Cheering Competition where all academic organizations best each other through cheers that tackle…
The University of the Philippines Visayas’ Student Council and other student organizations over the weekend said they “strongly condemn” the harassment received by UPV organization the Skimmers after their cheer critical of the Duterte administration’s policies went viral. “With the increased instances of red-tagging by this oppressive state whenever the University raises awareness and action…
Findings of the 2017-2019 Documentation of Extrajudicial Killings (EJK) committed in the context of the so-called War on Drugs by the Philippine Human Rights Information Center Since Rodrigo Duterte’s inauguration as the 16th president of the Philippines in 2016, the country has witnessed a steep surge in gross violations of human rights. Three years into…
