Amnesty International (Autor): „The State of the World's Human Rights; Philippines 2024“, Dokument #2124657

The last fabricated charge against human rights defender Leila de Lima was dismissed. Concern grew as more activists were forcibly disappeared. The practice of “red-tagging” human rights defenders, including young activists, persisted, and the government continued to use counterterrorism measures against humanitarian workers. Killings in the context of the “war on drugs” continued. Human rights violations – such as of the right to health – beset the country’s drug treatment programme.

Repression of dissent

“Red-tagging” – the public vilification of human rights defenders and other targeted groups and individuals as alleged members and clandestine recruiters of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) – continued. This was despite a Supreme Court ruling in May that “red-tagging” threatens a person’s life, liberty and security. UN experts, including the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, made repeated calls on the government to denounce and penalize the practice.

Authorities, mainly the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, created a climate of fear among young human rights defenders by weaponizing social media, misinformation and a flawed anti-terrorism law.¹

The government continued to use counterterrorism measures against “red-tagged” organizations, including humanitarian groups. In May, the Anti-Money Laundering Council froze the bank accounts of the Leyte Center for Development for allegedly financing “terrorist” organizations, including the NPA. In the same month, 27 development workers linked to the Community Empowerment Resource Network, a consortium of humanitarian organizations, posted bail of PHP 200,000 (USD 3,477) each; the Department of Justice had charged them with terrorism financing. Over 30 activists and human rights defenders faced terrorism-related charges in May after the military accused them of being involved in an armed encounter in 2023; charges against at least four were dismissed in September.

In May a regional trial court convicted a man of homicide after he supposedly confessed to killing government critic and broadcaster, Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa, in 2022. The trial of another suspect continued at year’s end, but the alleged mastermind, former Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag, remained at large.

On 24 June another court dismissed the last charge of conspiracy to commit drug trading against human rights defender and former Senator Leila de Lima.² The fabricated charges against her stemmed from her investigation of violations in the context of the “war on drugs” under former president Rodrigo Duterte, from 2016 to 2022.

In July the Court of Appeals voided a 2018 shutdown order by the Securities and Exchange Commission against news website Rappler. A cyber libel charge, carrying a penalty of imprisonment, against Rappler founder and Nobel laureate Maria Ressa and her former colleague remained pending.

Enforced disappearances

Activists increasingly became victims of enforced disappearances. In April, labour organizer William Lariosa was reportedly abducted in Bukidnon province; the military denied holding him in custody. He remained missing at year’s end.

In September the Supreme Court granted a temporary protection order in the case of missing activists Gene Roz Jamil de Jesus and Dexter Capuyan. The order prohibited certain individuals, including police and military officials, from being within a radius of one kilometre from the two activists’ immediate families. De Jesus and Capuyan remained missing following their reported abduction in 2023. By end of year, the Court of Appeals continued to hear their families’ petition to compel government agencies to present the two in court if they were being held in custody or to allow access to information pertaining to them.

Environmental activist Rowena Dasig went missing after being released from detention in Quezon province on 22 August; she was found safe over two months later. Unidentified people reportedly abducted friends and activists James Jazmines and Felix Salaveria Jr, also in August, in separate incidents in Tabaco City, Albay province. Both remained missing at year’s end.

On 28 September, farmer organizer Fhobie Matias was reportedly forcibly taken by soldiers to a military camp in Laguna province; weeks later, the Philippine Army said she had voluntarily surrendered and admitted to being an NPA member.

Impunity

Unlawful killings in the context of the ongoing “war on drugs” continued. Monitoring by university-based group Dahas showed at least 871 people killed in anti-drug police operations throughout the year.

Both the Lower House and the Senate held hearings to investigate extrajudicial executions in the “war on drugs”. Retired police official Royina Garma alleged that former president Duterte and Senator Bong Go ordered and coordinated, respectively, a cash reward system for those who killed people suspected of using or selling drugs. Former police chief and Senator Ronald Dela Rosa was accused of falsely implicating human rights defender Leila de Lima in the illegal drug trade. Both Go and Dela Rosa denied the allegations. In the Senate, Duterte admitted in October that he had maintained a “death squad” to kill alleged criminals during his years as Davao City mayor. Before this, Garma revealed that Duterte had asked her to replicate the “Davao model” – a direct reference to death squads and unlawful killings – once he became president. In November, the Department of Justice created a task force to investigate the “war on drugs” of the Duterte administration, including the possibility of charging Duterte with violating international humanitarian law.³

Accountability for unlawful killings remained almost non-existent; however, at least two cases resulted in convictions of police officers. On 27 February a court convicted a police officer of homicide for the killing of 17-year-old Jemboy Baltazar in August 2023. Four other police officers were also convicted of illegal discharge of firearms and one was acquitted. Another court convicted four police officers of homicide for the killing of father and son Luis and Gabriel Bonifacio during a police anti-drugs operation in 2016.

A three-year joint programme on human rights between the UN and the Philippine government concluded in July. Civil society groups called for an objective assessment of the programme, noting that it failed to advance accountability for drug-related extrajudicial executions.⁴ Following the programme’s conclusion, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr created a “Special Committee on Human Rights Coordination”, which various groups criticized as flawed and superfluous.⁵

The ICC’s investigation into extrajudicial killings continued. In July the government confirmed that the ICC prosecutor requested an interview with various Philippine officials considered to be “under suspicion”. The government, however, repeated that it would not cooperate with the ICC investigation.

Right to health

In July the UN and the government jointly held a drug policy summit aimed at amending the country’s anti-drugs law and identifying health-based approaches to drug policy.

Research by Amnesty International revealed how the government’s drug treatment and rehabilitation programmes were beset with violations of the rights to health, liberty, privacy and informed consent, and freedom from torture and other ill-treatment. The research also detailed how people accused of using drugs were forced into undergoing a court-mandated programme that was not evidence-based and amounted to arbitrary detention.⁶

LGBTI people’s rights

In May the proposed Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, or Sex Characteristics Equality Bill reached the House of Representatives’ plenary discussions, nearly a year after it was approved at committee level. However, it remained excluded from the government’s list of priority bills.

Right to a healthy environment

In August, a House of Representatives committee approved a bill that will force companies to limit their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the government’s decarbonization plans. By year end, the bill had not been approved by both chambers of Congress and the President, as required to become law.