The human rights situation in the Philippines has improved slightly under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “Drug war” killings continued with near impunity but have become less frequent. Yet the government still refused to cooperate with the International Criminal Court’s investigation into possible crimes against humanity. Despite Marcos’s assurances to the international community that he is prioritizing human rights, abuses such as extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and harassment and intimidation of critics through “red-tagging” still occurred.

Extrajudicial and Summary Killings

Extrajudicial killings, often perpetrated by the police during drug raids and by unidentified assailants, persisted in the Philippines throughout 2024. Monitoring by Dahas shows that 332 were killed across the Philippines between January and November 15, 2024, with security forces responsible for more than 50 percent of the killings. Since Marcos took office on July 1, 2022, 841 have died in drug-related killings.

Other killings by so-called death squads or hired assassins—often riding pillion on motorcycles—occurred frequently in Metro Manila and other urban areas. With mid-term elections slated for 2025, political violence targeting local officials increased in the second half of 2024.

In August, Congress launched joint hearings on extrajudicial killings in the “drug war” and whether money from drugs and illegal gambling were used by the previous administration of President Rodrigo Duterte to finance killings by the police. Former police officials also implicated Duterte and other police officials in the murder of suspected “drug lords” while in detention. Two other witnesses testified that they were coerced into fabricating false allegations against Duterte’s top critic, former Senator Leila de Lima, who, as a result, was detained for nearly seven years.

Enforced Disappearances

The human rights group Karapatan reported that 14 people were forcibly disappeared under President Marcos, with four new cases in 2024. The latest victims were James Jimenez, the brother of a leader of the communist movement, and his friend Felix Salaveria Jr., who were reportedly abducted in Tabaco City in the central Philippines in August. Victims of enforced disappearances are often activists, including land rights and environmental defenders.

The Philippines has not signed nor ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Congress passed a law against enforced disappearances in 2012, but the Philippine government has not enforced the law and has failed to allocate funds to implement it.

Red-Tagging, Terror-Tagging of Activists

Red-tagging, which involves accusing individuals and organizations of being communists or communist sympathizers, remained a serious problem. The practice shrinks the space for freedom of expression and association, which government officials and their proxies use to intimidate critics. Red-tagging, which frequently occurs online and in the media, often leads to physical violence. In recent years, targets have broadened from leftist activists to Indigenous leaders, land rights defenders, and educators. Labor leaders have also been harassed by government agents for union activities.

The National Task Force on Ending the Local Armed Conflict, under the president’s office and supervised by the National Security Council, is the main agency responsible for the rise in red-tagging. In a May ruling, the Supreme Court declared that red-tagging “threatens right to life, liberty, and security,” the first time red-tagging was defined in Philippine jurisprudence.

Philippine authorities also increasingly use their powers under the Anti-Terror Act to file charges—often for alleged terrorist financing—against activists and civil society groups, a step beyond red-tagging known as “terror-tagging.” Some individuals are facing charges in court, although at least 22 cases have been dismissed for lack for merit. In May, a court convicted child-rights activist Maria Salome Ujano of terrorist financing, the second activist to have been found guilty of the charge.

Attacks Against Journalists, Freedom of Expression

The Philippines remains one of the deadliest places in the world to work as a journalist. In September, former Palawan provincial governor Joel Reyes surrendered to the authorities for allegedly ordering the 2011 killing of journalist and environmental defender. In May, a Manila court sentenced the alleged gunman in the 2022 murder of radio commentator Percival Mabasa to 16 years in prison. However, the alleged mastermind of the murder is still at large. In April, police arrested the suspects in the 2023 murder of broadcaster Juan Jumalon, who was shot to death while live on air.

In July, a court cleared Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa and her news website Rappler of their last tax evasion case filed by the Rodrigo Duterte administration.

Irene Khan, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression, visited the Philippines in February and made several recommendations, including for the government to set up a special prosecutor to handle media killings.

Filing of Charges, Arrest, and Detention of Critics

After nearly seven years in police detention, former senator Leila de Lima, the chief critic of Duterte’s “war on drugs,” was finally released on bail in November 2023. The court subsequently dismissed the remaining trumped-up cases against her in June. De Lima was the highest profile target of the Duterte government’s efforts to quash criticism through the filing of politically motivated charges, a practice that has continued under the Marcos administration.

In July, a court in the southern Philippines convicted two leftist legislators and 11 teachers for alleged child abuse for rescuing Indigenous children from an area where military operations against communist insurgents were ongoing. While any case involving allegations of child abuse should be adequately investigated and prosecuted on its merits, the charges appear to have been politically motivated. In August, police arrested and detained four land rights and environmental activists for alleged illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The four alleged that they were tortured in detention.

Frenchie Mae Cumpio, a community journalist in Tacloban City in the central Philippines who reported on alleged military abuses, remains in police detention four years after she was arrested. She faces illegal firearms and explosive charges but has not been brought to trial.

Accountability and Justice

Accountability for killings in the “war on drugs” remains insignificant, although four police officers were convicted in June for the murders of a father and his son. Only three other cases have resulted in police officers being convicted for extrajudicial killings. The International Criminal Court’s investigation into possible crimes against humanity in the “drug war” is ongoing, although the Marcos administration refuses to cooperate with the court.

The United Nations Joint Program on Human Rights in the Philippines, which provided technical cooperation to the Philippine government in response to the “war on drugs,” ended in July. The government hailed it as a success and promised to sustain its “gains” through the creation of a “human rights super body.” Civil society organizations, however, criticized the program for failing to deliver accountability for serious rights abuses. In March, the European Union and the Philippines announced the resumption of free trade negotiations after these were suspended in 2017 due to concerns over “drug war” killings.

For the first time, the Philippine Congress decided to investigate the thousands of extrajudicial killings in the “war on drugs.” In hearings from August through November, police officials disclosed that the Duterte administration ordered the “elimination” of drug suspects, including three suspected Chinese drug lords who were killed—allegedly on Duterte’s orders—while in detention.

Drug Policy Reform

In July, the government held a summit that convened key government and UN agencies along with civil society and harm reduction groups to discuss drug policy reform, including the overhaul of the existing anti-drug law. While the government agreed that reform was needed, with President Marcos announcing a “paradigm shift,” it remained unclear how the government would go about changing the existing laws and policies that underpinned the brutality of the “war on drugs.”

Laws on Discrimination, Civil Partnership and Divorce

Congress has failed to enact proposed legislation that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics, nor has it passed a civil partnership bill that would protect some rights for same-sex couples. In May, legislators passed a bill that would legalize divorce in the Philippines, opening the possibility of the law’s full passage soon.