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PH human rights alliance lauds US legislators in calling for targeted sanctions vs Duterte officials on HR violations

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PH human rights alliance lauds US legislators in calling for targeted sanctions vs Duterte officials on HR violations

Press Release, 31 January 2022

Philippine human rights alliance Karapatan lauded the efforts of United States legislators, particularly the 24 representatives in the US Congress led by Pennsylvania 7th District Rep. Susan Wild, urging US State Secretary Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to impose targeted sanctions using the US Global Magnitsky Act on five individual Philippine government officials alleged to be responsible for human rights violations during the Duterte administration.

“Such actions led by Rep. Susan Wild, along with her efforts to reintroduce the Philippine Human Rights Act in the US Congress, further demonstrate that the international community can undertake meaningful steps on the human rights crisis in the Philippines. These targeted sanctions help bring to fore the need to look into the acts and policies implemented by the Duterte administration that has resulted in extrajudicial killings, arbitrary or illegal arrests and detention, enforced disappearances and other grave human rights violations,” Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said.

On January 24, 2022, the US legislators sent the letter to US executive officials citing reports from human rights groups like the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch on “widespread harassment, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, and assassination of journalists, dissidents, opposition leaders, members of the clergy, and labor organizers and leaders.”

“State forces continue to use ‘red-tagging,’ a practice in which activists and human rights groups are demonized and characterized as terrorists, as a pre-emptive move leading up to targeted assassinations, arrest without cause or other human rights abuses,” the legislators added.

Named in the said letter are Secretary of Interior and Local Government Eduardo Año, Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana, former National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict spokesman Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., and former police chief Debold Sinas.

“Those behind these corrosive violations should no longer operate with impunity. In our stand for democracy, the United States cannot overlook the crisis in the Philippines, and we must take tangible action if we are to truly stand for human rights and the flourishing of freedom around the world. To this end, we urge the imposition of sanctions on individuals who are behind these major human rights violations, particularly via the use of the Global Magnitsky Act,” they stated.

Karapatan emphasized that “as the end of the Duterte administration draws near, steps towards accountability will not relent as thousands of victims and their families and communities continue to suffer and are left with dysfunctional domestic redress mechanisms that have not delivered justice.”

“The efforts at the International Criminal Court and the UN Office of the High Commissioner, along with initiatives to pursue independent investigations by the UN Human Rights Council and of other governments, contribute to the strong clamor of peoples within and outside the Philippines to put a stop to the killings and other rights violations,” Palabay added.

“The situation is increasingly worrisome as Duterte and his ilk attempt to evade accountability through the electoral bids of his allies like the Marcoses and that of his daughter. We enjoin the international community to keep vigil with the Filipino people and stand with those who were ravaged by the murderous policies of this administration,” she concluded.  ###

Rep. Susan Wild released this statement on January 27, 2022 along with the copy of the legislators’ letter: https://wild.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-wild-leads-call-action-against-philippines-human-rights-violations

‘Ask a person who experienced the Spanish era’: DepEd ridiculed anew for alleged module error

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‘Ask a person who experienced the Spanish era’: DepEd ridiculed anew for alleged module error

Marane A. Plaza – Philstar.com January 31, 2022

MANILA, Philippines —  It is common knowledge these days that both students and parents have been dealing with online learning at home, almost two years since the global pandemic has hit us. The Department of Education (DepEd) has had no choice but to provide online modules for students to temporarily use for digital schooling, so as to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection. 

Some activities from the DepEd modules have elicited some funny reactions online as netizens have shared on social media — some due to wrong grammar or spelling, while some due to plain ridiculousness. The most recent is one shared by netizen Rich Mahusay.

One activity from a history module asks students to do a seemingly impossible task:

“Ask a person who experienced the Spanish era,” the module activity instructed. “Let him/her tell you how they managed during those times.”

The post has gained some funny reactions, naturally.

One netizen commented, “Ay sayang, mahigit 25 taon nang patay ang lola ko! Ang kwento niya sa amin lagi ay panahon ng Kastila, Amerikano at Hapon. Kung buhay lang sana siya. Siya papainterview ko sa inyo.”

While another one said, “Si Enrile, kahit dinosaur era pa yan nandun na sya.”

Mahusay, the one who shared the page from the module, captioned his post: “Doc Ruben Malabuyo: Magpapaunlak naman siguro si DepEd Sec Leonor Briones…”

It is not clear how the online modules were authored, or who authored the activity in the online history module. Safe to say, the author himself/herself cannot possibly be alive nor around during the Spanish era.

Pharmally owes P6.3B in taxes, senators told

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Pharmally owes P6.3B in taxes, senators told

By: Melvin Gascon – Correspondent / Philippine Daily Inquirer /January 28, 2022

Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. owes the government up to P6.3 billion in taxes from the supply contracts it entered into with the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM), while its officers may face a prison term of up to six years for the anomalies in their tax records, an expert witness told the Senate blue ribbon committee on Thursday.

Raymond Abrea, a certified public accountant who has served as the Senate’s resource person in its ongoing inquiry into the alleged misuse of the government’s pandemic funds, also raised doubts on the existence of the two suppliers who supposedly provided Pharmally the stocks of face masks that it dealt with PS-DBM.

In his presentation, Abrea said that based on their analysis of available documents of its transactions, Pharmally is estimated to have a total of P6.3-billion tax deficiency, based on the P7.3 billion in claimed but undocumented purchases, P3.9-billion disallowed purchases subject to value-added tax, P1.3 billion in undeclared purchases, and P1.3 billion in undeclared sales.

Abrea also cited the P1.3-billion discrepancy between the P8.8-billion goods that Pharmally claimed to have delivered to PS-DBM, as against the P7.5 billion that it declared as sales in 2020.

Suspicions raised

Abrea’s findings prompted senators to raise suspicions that the transactions Pharmally claimed to have made were fictitious, and became the source of corruption for unscrupulous officials of government and their cohorts.

“Because of the missing pieces of information about the suppliers of face masks and face shields, it is possible that these are ghost deliveries, and no real transaction ever took place between Pharmally, PS-DBM and the Department of Health,” said Sen. Richard Gordon, chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee.

He called on the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to immediately conduct its investigation into the tax liabilities of Pharmally and its executives, and “file charges against anyone who is found to have violated the law.”

According to Gordon, the P9 billion that was supposedly “lost” to Pharmally could have been used to build 3,200 four-classroom school buildings, three tertiary hospitals, 22,500 ventilators, or could have been used to conduct 4.5 million COVID-19 test kits.

“It could have been used to pay P72,000 as special risk allowance for our 125,000 health-care workers, or cash grant for 4,500 families during lockdowns. This is how severe the corruption that you in Pharmally carried out,” he told Pharmally officers who were attending the hearing online.

Records cited by Abrea showed that Acme Pinnacle and Evermore Marketing, the alleged suppliers of Pharmally for the goods it sold to PS-DBM, were newly set up companies, which were registered on the same month as Pharmally.

No records

No records were also available on their previous transactions as legitimate suppliers, and their registration as dealers of medical supplies were amended only in September 2020, after they were said to have already dealt with Pharmally, Abrea said.

Abrea also raised suspicion on the legitimacy of Greentrends Trading and Tigerphil Marketing, which Pharmally executives earlier claimed supplied them with face masks, as no previous record was available as to their transactions as suppliers, and have supposedly incurred tax reporting delinquencies.

Greentrends did not file any tax returns since it was registered, which led to 94 open cases with the BIR. A barangay certification also attested that the company is not registered as a legitimate firm, Abrea said.

According to the expert witness, Pharmally officers may be held liable for violation of the tax code, for false claims on their tax deductions, and for alleged “failure to supply correct and accurate information” in their tax returns. Such offenses carry as penalty a prison term of up to six years for the violators, and may be fined P10 million, Abrea said.

Among the company officers who are liable for the false tax claims are Pharmally directors Huang Tzu Yen, Mohit Dargani, Linconn Ong, Twinkle Dargani and Justin Garado, and their employee Krizle Grace Mago, according to Abrea.

Gordon said the committee will release its preliminary report on the investigation on Monday.

Guanzon’s vote: Marcos Jr. shows ‘serious defect in moral fiber’

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Guanzon’s vote: Marcos Jr. shows ‘serious defect in moral fiber’

Jan 31, 2022 Dwight de Leon

The dictator’s son Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ‘acted as if the law did not apply to him,’ writes Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon in her separate opinion

MANILA, Philippines – Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Rowena Guanzon issued on Monday, January 31, her separate opinion on the disqualification cases against presidential bet Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Voting to disqualify the ousted dictator’s son, Guanzon said Marcos committed a crime of moral turpitude when he failed to file his income tax returns (ITRs) from 1982 to 1985, when his father was president of the Philippines. By failing to do so, Guanzon said Marcos showed a “serious defect in one’s moral fiber.”

Committing a crime of moral turpitude is a ground for disqualification under the Omnibus Election Code.

“For decades, the government was deprived of the taxes which respondent failed to pay. In a very real sense, respondent’s failure to file his ITRs, which in turn led to the belated discovery of deficiency taxes, had a deleterious effect to public interest,” Guanzon wrote.

Guanzon also noted that Marcos was a public official at the time, having served in the provincial government of Ilocos Norte. She said he must have had staff at the time to handle matters for him, yet the government official Marcos Jr. still failed to comply “with what everyone else complies with.”

“Instead of setting a good example for his constituents to emulate, Respondent acted as if the law did not apply to him,” the commissioner said.

“Taken altogether,” she added, “all of these circumstances reveal that Respondent’s failure to file his tax returns for almost half a decade is reflective of a serious defect in one’s moral fiber.”

Read the full text of Guanzon’s separate opinion in link below.

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/555985871/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-AyZd5tDJbuDIW13D0h1h

Why Guanzon is unconvinced

The Marcos camp had clung to Section 12 of the election code, which stated that disqualification is removed “after the expiration of a period of five years from his service of sentence.” They insisted Marcos already paid the fines imposed by the Court of Appeals.

But Guanzon was unconvinced by the proof presented by the Marcos camp – a bank receipt and a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) certification from 2001.

The bank receipt, she said, indicated that it was a payment for lease rental, and not for deficiency taxes payable to the BIR or the Regional Trial Court, which first convicted Marcos in 1995 over his tax offense. The BIR certification, meanwhile, “does not state what the certification was for,” the separate opinion read.

“I find that the RTC certification… must be given more weight,” said Guanzon, referring to the document submitted by the petitioners to attest that there is no record of Marcos’ compliance of payment.

Arguments denied

Guanzon, meanwhile, denied the petitioners’ argument that Marcos was slapped with an 18-month sentence by final judgment, which is another ground for disqualification under the election code.

She said that the Court of Appeals never meted out the penalty of a three-year jail sentence against Marcos Jr. when it modified the 1995 RTC decision. 

Guanzon also disputed the petitioners’ argument that the penalty of perpetual disqualification of the tax code, under which Marcos was convicted by the CA, applies to Marcos.

“The commission regrettably is unable to find any legal basis to allow the imposition of the penalty of perpetual disqualification upon respondent when the same was not imposed to begin with,” she wrote.

Does her vote matter?

Guanzon is set to finish her seven-year term in the Comelec on Wednesday, February 2.

Her separate opinion and vote, however, run the risk of being invalidated, should the ponente or writer of the ruling in the case in the First Division fail to release a ruling by Wednesday.

Guanzon has been engaged in a public rift with ponente Commissioner Aimee Ferolino, whom the former accused of deliberately delaying the promulgation of the ruling so that her vote will not be counted.

Ferolino has insisted she needs more time to rule on a “complex and highly rated” case. – Rappler.com

Makabayan endorses Leni-Kiko; Colmenares joins 1Sambayan Senate slate

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Makabayan endorses Leni-Kiko; Colmenares joins 1Sambayan Senate slate

Jan 28, 2022, Mara Cepeda

This signals the coming together of the liberals and leftists, who have been at loggerheads these past months

MANILA, Philippines – After months of tension between the liberals and leftists, the progressive Makabayan bloc has endorsed the presidential bid of Vice President Leni Robredo and her running mate Senator Kiko Pangilinan.

Former Bayan Muna congressman Neri Colmenares announced this on Friday, January 28, as he confirmed accepting the offer of the 1Sambayan opposition coalition to get the eighth slot in its senatorial ticket.

“Masaya ako na nagbunga ang ating pagsisikap. Isang malaking karangalan sa akin na mapili bilang isa sa mga senatorial candidates ng 1Sambayan. Malugod ko pong tinatanggap ang karangalang ito. Sa inyong suporta, kayang-kaya ko pong maging tapat na boses ng karaniwang tao sa Senado,” Colmenares said.

(I am happy our efforts have come to fruition. It is a great honor for me to be chosen as one of the senatorial candidates of 1Sambayan. I am whole-heartedly accepting this honor. With your support, I can be an honest voice of the ordinary people in the Senate.)

leftists, who have been at loggerheads these past months https://www.youtube.com/embed/5vgkGj9NZSM?autoplay=0&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&modestbranding=1&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rappler.com&iv_load_policy=3&mute=0&controls=1&playsinline=1&showinfo=0&widgetid=1&embed_config=%7B%22adsConfig%22%3A%7B%22adTagParameters%22%3A%7B%22iu%22%3A%22%2F15125093%2Fyt_pfp%22%7D%7D%2C%22nonPersonalizedAd%22%3Afalse%7D

MANILA, Philippines – After months of tension between the liberals and leftists, the progressive Makabayan bloc has endorsed the presidential bid of Vice President Leni Robredo and her running mate Senator Kiko Pangilinan.

Former Bayan Muna congressman Neri Colmenares announced this on Friday, January 28, as he confirmed accepting the offer of the 1Sambayan opposition coalition to get the eighth slot in its senatorial ticket.

“Masaya ako na nagbunga ang ating pagsisikap. Isang malaking karangalan sa akin na mapili bilang isa sa mga senatorial candidates ng 1Sambayan. Malugod ko pong tinatanggap ang karangalang ito. Sa inyong suporta, kayang-kaya ko pong maging tapat na boses ng karaniwang tao sa Senado,” Colmenares said.

(I am happy our efforts have come to fruition. It is a great honor for me to be chosen as one of the senatorial candidates of 1Sambayan. I am whole-heartedly accepting this honor. With your support, I can be an honest voice of the ordinary people in the Senate.)

“Sa puntong ito, nais kong ipahayag sa ngalan ng aking partido, ang Makabayan coalition, ang aming pag-endorso at malakas na suporta kay VP Leni Robredo bilang kandidato sa pagkapangulo ng Pilipinas at kay Senator Kiko Pangilinan bilang vice president,” added one of the most prominent figures of the Philippine Left.

(At this point, I want to announce the endorsement and strong support of my party, the Makabayan coalition, for VP Leni Robredo’s candidacy for the president of the Philippines and for Senator Kiko Pangilinan as vice president.)

Colmenares said the Leni-Kiko tandem and Makabayan are united in their positions on issues like pandemic response, rights of workers, farmers, the poor, and the indigenous peoples, environment, human rights, and the West Philippine Sea.

Makabayan’s endorsement of the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem and Colmenares’ inclusion in the 1Sambayan ticket was announced during the virtual proclamation rally of 1Sambayan, the group that has taken on the tough mission of forging a united front for all dissenting forces against President Rodrigo Duterte and his allies in the May elections. 

Colmenares, who chairs Bayan Muna, now joins the seven other senatorial aspirants who were earlier endorsed by 1Sambayan and who also form the core group of the 12 Senate bets backed by presidential hopeful and Vice President Leni Robredo. 

They other Senate bets endorsed by 1Sambayan are:

  • Teddy Baguilat Jr. (Liberal Party)
  • Leila de Lima (Liberal Party)
  • Chel Diokno (Katipunan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino)
  • Risa Hontiveros (Akbayan)
  • Alex Lacson (Kapatiran)
  • Sonny Matula (Independent)
  • Antonio Trillanes IV (Magdalo)

1Sambayan convenors are only willing to endorse senatorial bets who have publicly supported Robredo and her running mate Senator Kiko Pangilinan.

Colmenares’ inclusion in 1Sambayan’s list signals the coming together of the leftist and liberals who have been at loggerheads in the past months.

The members of the Makabayan bloc had been part of 1Sambayan’s vetting process for their opposition slate, but they eventually refused to back Robredo when the convenors announced that she would be 1Sambayan’s standard-bearer in September 2021.

This has since been a sticking sore point between members of the Makabayan bloc and Robredo’s “Kakampink” supporters. 

The Kakampink have accused Makabayan of allegedly backing the candidacy of Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, whom they have criticized for being a fence-sitter. The Makabayan lawmakers denied this.

Robredo’s eventual snub of Colmenares in her own Senate ticket further soured the relations between these two factions in the opposition.   

Colmenares was even left to compete with labor leader Matula for the 12th and final slot in Robredo’s slate. The Vice President eventually picked Matula, who leads a group of labor leaders and unions that have been mobilizing for her 2022 campaign. 

Colmenares, however, holds no grudges against Robredo and has not ruled out working with her despite her non-endorsement of his bid for the Senate. 

This is the third senatorial bid of Colmenares, who ranked 24th in the 2019 senatorial race that was eventually dominated by Duterte allies.

A human rights lawyer and activist, Colmenares was only 18 when he was tortured and jailed during the bloody Martial Law years under the deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The strongman’s only son and namesake, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., is running for president in the May 2022 elections and is leading the voters’ preference polls so far.

1Sambayan convenor Howard Calleja earlier said their senatorial ticket may still increase in the coming weeks, but did not indicate if the final list may include other bets in Robredo’s Senate ticket. 

Robredo’s Senate picks had been controversial, following the inclusion of guest candidates who make for strange bedfellows given their past conflicts with the opposition figures in her list.

The other senatorial bets under Robredo’s slate are former vice president Jejomar Binay, Sorsogon Governor Chiz Escudero, and reelectionist senators Richard Gordon, Joel Villanueva, and Migz Zubiri. – Rappler.com

Guanzon for Marcos DQ, sees ‘delay, interference’

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Guanzon for Marcos DQ, sees ‘delay, interference’

By: Carla P. Gomez – Correspondent / Philippine Daily Inquirer / January 28, 2022

BACOLOD CITY—An outspoken member of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) who admitted voting to disqualify presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Thursday said “political interference” was delaying the release of the decision on the case.

The son and namesake of the late dictator, who is the front-runner in recent surveys among 10 presidential aspirants, faced one case to nullify his certificate of candidacy and four others to disqualify him from running in the May 9 elections as standard-bearer of the little-known Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP). His running mate is President Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.

“I believe there is political interference here,” Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.

“It was delayed because they already know my vote. They think if I retire my vote will not count, which is not true,” she said.

She was referring to pro-Marcos politicians, but did not elaborate.

Guanzon is set to retire on Feb. 2 along with Comelec Chair Sheriff Abas and Commissioner Antonio Kho Jr.

She said she had called up Salvador Panelo, former chief presidential legal counsel and spokesperson, who told her that Mr. Duterte had instructions not to interfere with Comelec.

Guanzon, who is presiding commissioner of the Comelec’s First Division, said she voted for the disqualification of Marcos Jr. “because he was convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude.”

The Comelec First Division is handling three disqualification cases filed by Akbayan and other activist groups, the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law, and a group claiming to be the original members of PFP.

Guanzon said that even if the division’s resolution came out after her retirement on Feb. 2, her vote for the disqualification would still be counted.

According to Guanzon, it was proven that Marcos did not pay his taxes for four years when he was vice governor and later governor of Ilocos Norte and was sentenced by a Regional Trial Court to imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine.

He filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals that ordered him to only pay a fine.

Still, Guanzon said, Marcos didn’t pay the fine.

“I voted to DQ (disqualify),” Guanzon, who presides over the three-member First Division, reiterated in a separate interview with GMA 7 also on Thursday.

In the TV interview, Guanzon said she had disclosed her vote due to the “unreasonable” delay in the promulgation of the division’s decision.

“I suspect interference going on. Some people are trying to influence the commissioners. That’s what I don’t like,” she said.

She did not say how the other members of the First Division—Marlon Casquejo and Aimee Ferolino—had voted.

Separate opinion

“I will release my separate opinion soon no matter what the ponente does,” Guanzon tweeted earlier Thursday.

It was Ferolino who was assigned as the ponente, or the division member designated to write the decision or resolution on the case, Guanzon said.

“Yes, it will be a mess. Whoever is interfering in these cases should know that they are not helping anyone. It is best that the cases go up to the Supreme Court as soon as possible,” tweeted Guanzon, who is the only poll commissioner with a social media account.

Members of the Comelec, following protocols of a collegial body, do not normally announce their votes or release their separate opinions ahead of the promulgation of their decisions.

Guanzon told the Inquirer that she and the two other First Division members agreed that the resolution of the case that was raffled off to their division on Jan. 10 would be out in seven days, but Ferolino has yet to release the resolution.

Ponente ‘not sick’

Guanzon said she and Casquejo had been trying to reach Ferolino who was not replying to their calls.

“Ferolino is not sick and her quarantine is over after she said she was a close contact of one of her lawyers who was hit with COVID-19,” Guanzon said.

She said she had requested Comelec Chair Abas to call Ferolino.

An option for Ferolino is to waive writing the resolution if she could not finish it on time and Casquejo could take over, Guanzon said.

On Jan. 17, the Second Division members—Kho, Socorro Inting and Rey Bulay—unanimously dismissed the petition filed by martial law activists to cancel Marcos’ certificate of candidacy.

The four other cases argued that Marcos was disqualified from running for election because under the National Internal Revenue Code, he should be barred for life from holding public office due to his tax evasion conviction in 1995.

The Second Division ruled that the Court of Appeals decision in 1997 that modified the penalties meted on him did not expressly include perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

The petitioners have appealed the division before the seven-member Comelec sitting as a whole.

The Second Division has yet to resolve another similar case brought against Marcos Jr.

Until President Duterte appoints their replacements, Comelec will be left with only four commissioners—Inting, Bulay, Casquejo and Ferolino. —WITH A REPORT FROM DONA PAZZIBUGAN

LIVESTREAM: Over 100 groups launch #FactsFirstPH for truth, accountability

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LIVESTREAM: Over 100 groups launch #FactsFirstPH for truth, accountability

Jan 25, 2022 PHT Rappler.com

#FactsFirstPH will unite various sectors to promote truth in public spaces and demand accountability from those who perpetrate lies

MANILA, Philippines – With the 2022 elections just a few months away, Rappler and more than 100 other groups are launching an initiative that seeks to promote truth and fight disinformation. 

On Wednesday, January 26, groups from the media, civil society, business, research, and legal sectors, along with the Church, will launch #FactsFirstPH.

#FactsFirstPH will unite various sectors to promote truth in public spaces and demand accountability from those who perpetrate lies. The project is in partnership with Google News Initiative and Meedan. 

The project also aims to restore the integrity of the elections and provide crucial information for voters who will be choosing the Philippines’ next leaders.

Tune in to the launch of #FactsFirstPH on Wednesday at 10 am. – Rappler.com 

Int’l watchdog calls on Senate to pass Human Rights Defenders Act

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Int’l watchdog calls on Senate to pass Human Rights Defenders Act

By: Gabriel Pabico Lalu – Reporter /INQUIRER.net /January 25, 2022

MANILA, Philippines — An international watchdog has urged the Senate of the Philippines to pass the Human Rights Defenders Act, which is seen to protect rights workers from harassment and extrajudicial killings (EJKs).

According to the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, the House of Representatives’ decision to pass the bill is a welcome move for rights workers, as many have complained of being harassed or even attacked due to their line of work.

The Observatory, a joint project of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) hopes that the Senate, the other chamber of Congress, would adopt the measure.

“The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OMCT-FIDH) welcomes the adoption of the Human Rights Defenders Act by the Philippine House of Representatives, and calls on the Senate to pass a similar bill, in order to promulgate and implement a national protection law for human rights defenders in the Philippines,” the Observatory said.

“The act proposes, among others, the recognition of human rights defenders, organisations, and their work, obligations of state actors towards them, and the creation of a Human Rights Defenders Protection Committee, in line with the provisions included in the United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders, adopted in 1998,” it added.

The group was referring to the House Bill No. 10576 or the Human Rights Defenders Protection Act which was authored by Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman.

However, they noted that the House had already passed another bill in 2019 — the House Bill No. 9199 or the Human Rights Defenders (HRD) Protection Bill — which was not adopted by the Senate, resulting in the bill failing to progress into law.

READ: House OKs bill protecting human rights defenders 

“The Observatory welcomes the passing of House Bill No. 10576 but recalls that in 2019, the House of Representatives had already adopted a Human Rights Defenders Bill under House Bill No. 9199,” the Observatory said.

“Yet, the Senate failed to adopt its corresponding bill and hence it was never enacted into a law, despite reiterated calls by international civil society and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders to prioritise the passage of legislation for the protection of human rights defenders,” it stressed.

The passage and enactment of such a law, the Observatory believes, would prevent more attacks on human rights defenders — from arbitrary arrests, harassment, and even killings, which they said have been the prevailing climate since President Rodrigo Duterte took office in 2016.

“In the Philippines, human rights defenders face attacks, killings, judicial harassment, arbitrary detention and stigmatization campaigns led by both state and non-state actors. Since President Duterte took power in June 2016, a climate in which attacks against human rights defenders are acceptable and legitimized has prevailed,” the Observatory said.

“The killings of defenders are rarely investigated, which increases the vulnerability of those who remain active, while undermining the human rights community’s confidence in the justice system. In addition, the Anti-Terrorism Act, which was passed in July 2020, further compounded the precarious situation for human rights defenders by legally formalizing the practice of ‘red-tagging’ defenders with overly broad and vague definitions of terrorism,” it added.

In 2016, Duterte was elected into office through a promise of ridding streets of drugs. Later on, Duterte — a known ally of the left — waged a campaign against communism in the countryside.

However, many human rights groups and advocates have claimed that these two campaigns are being used to attack government critics and rights workers who have denounced the Duterte administration’s policies.

READ: Human Rights Day: ‘Political tokhang’ condemned

READ: ‘Tokhang’ reso vs ‘left-leaning personalities’ is ‘illegal, unconstitutional’ — NUPL

READ: Karapatan doubts if rights would be respected in ‘tokhang’ vs leftists 

But the government insists that President Duterte’s administration actually fulfilled its promise to pursue social justice and human rights in the Philippines.


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