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The War on Drugs under Marcos: A Policy Review
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by the Philippine Human Rights Information Center
In the ongoing saga of Philippine drug policy, the Marcos Jr. administration's "Buhay ay Ingatan, Droga ay Ayawan" (BIDA) campaign stands as a departure from its predecessor’s unabashedly violent drug policy. This comprehensive initiative aims to combat the nation's drug crisis through...
Kaming Mga Naiwan: Mga Kuwento ng Pamilya ng mga Biktima ng Giyera Kontra Droga
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by the Philippine Human Rights Information Center
Monitoring and Documentation of EJKs and Other Human Rights Violations
As the BBM–Duterte UNITEAM disintegrates amid irreconcilable differences, families affected by the so-called war on drugs continue to wait in vain for the justice they desperately seek. To add insult to injury, the...
Breaking the Cycle: A Reflection on Thailand’s Democracy and its Resonance with the Filipino Struggle
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by PhilRights Staff
Audiences gathered for a free screening of Breaking the Cycle, a powerful documentary by directors Aekaphong Saransate and Thanakrit Duangmaneeporn that traces the rise and fall of Thailand’s pro-democracy movement. The screening was held at the Gateway Cineplex in early October as part of DAKILA’s Active Vista Human Rights Film Festival.
The film intricately...
Fisherfolk demand the demilitarization of the West Philippine Sea
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by Isabela Canlas
The call for demilitarizing the West Philippine Sea has intensified as fisherfolk demand protection of the country’s sovereignty and their rights. President Bongbong Marcos Jr. has been criticized for not taking sufficient action to safeguard these rights. It's imperative for the Philippines to assert its sovereignty over the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in...
World Teachers Day: Silip sa Buhay-Titser sa Pampublikong Paaralan
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TRIGGER WARNING: Mention of suicide.
by Amor Antonio
Kagagaling ko lang sa rally para sa World Teachers Day 2024 habang sinusulat ko ito. Nahuli ako sa martsa kaya nagtryke na ako pa-Mendiola. Wala akong nakita pagbaba ng tryke. Naglakad ako pabalik sa Recto at nakita ko ang mga kapwa titser sa tapat ng University of the East....
Paano nga ba maging Human Rights Defender?
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by PhilRights
Araw-araw nating nasusubaybayan sa balita ang mga halimbawa ng di mabilang na mga paglabag sa karapatang pantao. Nariyan ang kawalan ng tirahan, kakulangan sa pagkain, kapos na kakayahang makapag-aral, problemang pangkalusugan, pang-aabuso sa mga manggagawa, at karahasan ng Estado sa mga mamamayang Pilipino. Ilan lamang ang mga ito sa mga paglabag na nararanasan ng...
PITIK-MULAT: 2023 Human Rights Situationer
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FOREWORD
As the second year of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s administration unfolds, hope is dimming for an apparent respite from the human rights crisis brought on by Rodrigo Duterte’s government.
Consultations and interviews with community partners, families of victims of human rights violations, representatives of the basic sectors, and human rights defenders...
Interview: Hinggil kina Jemboy at John Frances, at ang “Giyera Kontra-Droga” sa panahon ni BBM
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by PhilRights Staff
Kamakailan, naganap ang pagpaslang sa 17-anyos na si Jemboy Baltazar noong ika-2 ng Agosto sa Navotas City at sa 15-anyos na si John Frances Ompad noong ika-20 ng Agosto sa Rodriguez, Rizal. Kinapanayam ng PhilRights ang tatlong human rights defenders na kabilang sa mga nagmo-monitor sa sitwasyon ng karapatang pantao sa kanilang lugar...
We Turn the Tide: Seeking Justice amidst a Human Rights Crisis
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by the Philippine Human Rights Information Center
Monitoring and Documentation of EJKs and Other Human Rights Violations
From the time Rodrigo Roa Duterte assumed office as the 16th president of the Philippines in 2016, there has been a significant increase in human rights abuses in the country. His centerpiece policy,...
Prof. Nymia Pimentel Simbulan: Justice and Accountability Remain Elusive Under New Administration
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Remarks of Prof. Nymia Pimentel Simbulan, Executive Director of the Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights) and Chairperson of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) during the online launch of the 2022 Report on the Human Rights in the Philippines by Aktionsbündnis Menschenrechte-Philippinen / Action Network Human Rights – Philippines (AMP), held December...
COMMENTARY: Preserving Memory and History in a Marcos Jr. Presidency
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Text and photo by Isaiah Castro
As news stories first reported the election numbers on the evening of May 9, there was a dawning realization of a Marcos Jr. win. Elsewhere, the grip has only begun. “It’s like suffering a nightmare,” a netizen posts, “but one that you cannot wake up from.”
For Martial Law victims, the...
A Minor, not a Valentine: Banning Child Marriage in the Philippines is a Belated but Welcome Victory
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by Isaiah Castro
The prohibition of child marriage in the Philippines is a welcome victory for Filipino children and children’s rights and a clear step into the right direction, even as it should not have taken this long.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier this year signed Republic Act No. 11596 into law, which banned all forms of child...
Explainer: Ang Rights-based Approach o RBA at Papel nito sa Pamamahala at Pag-unlad
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by Mateo P. Garcia
Ngayong taon ng halalan, lalo pang tumingkad ang mga usapin ng pamamahala at ang pagnanais ng lahat ng maunlad na pamumuhay. Ang dalawang usaping ito—ang pamamahala at pag-unlad—ay hindi maipaghihiwalay. Kung hindi epektibo ang pamamahala sa isang lipunan, malayong maisakatuparan ang pag-unlad para sa lahat ng miyembro nito.
Hindi rin buo ang anumang...
No Calm after the Storm: Cebuano Farmers Recover from Odette with Little to No Aid
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Text and Photos by Isaiah Castro
When Arnel arrived in Bonbon in Aloguinsan town at the wake of typhoon Odette, he was a father fearing for his family of five, and a farmer holding on hope that he still has a livelihood to return to.
“No’ng dumating ako, nanlumo ako sa mga nakita ko sa paligid. ‘Di...
Cora
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by the Philippine Human Rights Information Center
Cora realized something important about talking about the past: it made it easier for her to bear the pain -- even it meant remembering the day her eldest son and her grandson were gunned down in cold blood.
“When I tell the story of what happened, it feels like a...
Gloria
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by the Philippine Human Rights Information Center
Gloria choked back tears as she recalled how moving from Negros to Manila in the late 1990s made her feel uneasy. Her husband and siblings had made the move then, and there was pressure on her to follow them to the capital. But she didn’t want to.
“I had a...
Liza
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by the Philippine Human Rights Information Center
A few days before her son was killed, a friend had told Liza: “You should tell him to leave. There are men looking for him.” It had just been a few weeks since Duterte took power and his anti-illegal drugs campaign was in full swing in 2016. It was...
The Killing State: Remembering is Resistance
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by the Philippine Human Rights Information center
Monitoring and Documentation
President Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called war on drugs is and always has been a war waged against the poor. Since 2016, thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and other gross violations of human rights committed against the poor have been reported in...
Prof. Nymia Pimentel-Simbulan: We are in a human rights crisis with manifold impacts in the years to come
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Remarks of Prof. Nymia Pimentel-Simbulan, Executive Director of the Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights) and Chairperson of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) during The Killing State: Confronting the Normalization of State Violence in the Philippines, a side event for the 48th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, held October...
Explainer: Ang United Nations Human Rights Council at Kampanya para sa Karapatang Pantao
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by Ian Deleyus
Nitong Setyembre 13 hanggang Oktubre 8 ay ginanap ang ika-48 sesyon ng United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Isa sa mga napag-usapan dito ay ang patungkol sa teknikal na kooperasyon at capacity-building para sa promosyon at proteksyon ng karapatang pantao sa Pilipinas. Pero bago ang lahat, ano nga ba ang UNHRC at ang...
The Killing State: Duterte's Legacy of Violence
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1. Introduction
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte was elected in 2016 under a campaign platform that promised a no-nonsense approach to crushing crime, corruption and the illegal drugs problem. His campaign team packaged him as both tough and compassionate, with “Tapang at Malasakit” and the battlecry “Change is coming.”
This messaging resonated with a...
An Exercise in Deflection: Unpacking DOJ’s admission of police lapses in “drug war”
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by Mateo P. Garcia
Department of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra made waves last week when he revealed the initial findings of the Justice department’s review panel on extrajudicial killings resulting from anti-illegal drug police operations.
Speaking via a video link at the 46th Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Sec. Guevarra revealed that in...
Kulay, Karapatan, Kabataan: An Exhibit of Children's Art for Children's Rights
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By PhilRights Staff
Expression and exploration both play a vital role in the development of a child. So much so that the rights of each and every child to play and to freely express are enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). To be able to fully enjoy these rights,...
The Killing State: A Legacy of Violence
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This is the fourth and last part of The Killing State: 2019 Philippine Human Rights Situationer, a report released by PhilRights to describe key events in 2019 that have impacted the human rights situation in the country. This section offers up a picture of what the next three years of the Duterte administration will mean for...
A Chilling Effect: Violence Consumes Civic Spaces in the Philippines
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This is the third part of The Killing State: 2019 Philippine Human Rights Situationer, a report released by PhilRights to describe key events in 2019 that have impacted the human rights situation in the country. This section describes the ways in which the Duterte administration's violence has led to shrinking civic spaces in the Philippines, tracing...
A Comfortable Life? Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Remain Compromised
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This is the second part of The Killing State: 2019 Philippine Human Rights Situationer, a report released by PhilRights to describe key events in 2019 that have impacted the human rights situation in the country. Here we review the socioeconomic conditions in the Philippines in 2019 and describe the ways in which very little meaningful progress...
Kill Policies: Testing the Extremes of Violence and Impunity
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This is the first part of The Killing State: 2019 Philippine Human Rights Situationer, a report released by PhilRights to describe key events in 2019 that have impacted the human rights situation in the country. Here we take a look at the kill policies of the Duterte administration, and examine how these policies have enabled widespread...
Children and the so-called War on Drugs: Impact and Consequences
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by Pineng Garcia
The so-called war on drugs, still an unfolding nightmare in many poor communities, has not spared children. President Duterte, back in 2016, characterized the children who died during anti-illegal drug operations as “collateral damage.” In July this year, neophyte senator and former police chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, summed up the tragic death...
The Killing State: The Unrelenting War Against Human Rights
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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
Download The Killing State PDF (8 mb)
Part I. Monitoring and Documentation of EJKs
Since Rodrigo Duterte’s inauguration as the 16th president of the Philippines in 2016, the country has witnessed a steep...
The Obligation to Work: Child laborers in Navotas speak up
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Text by Luis Abesamis and Marianne Ignacio
Photographs by Joaquin Reyes
Like many barangays in Navotas, Barangay Tanza 2 faces the sea. Breeze from the waters is scarce, and when it arrives, it is often too warm to be refreshing. While jumping into the sea for a midday swim is tempting, the aggregation of garbage occupying nearly...
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