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The Philippines Human Rights Crisis

Although I'm selling myself on my blog as a fiction and creative writer, my public writing journey started as a journalist for the non-proft organisation, Respublica International. I moved on to writing media posts on Instagram; becoming a graphic designer for the team. Loving my time in the group and the experience it gave me, I only think it's fair to myself to showcase some of my non-fiction articles here too. 


The Philippines Human Rights Crisis






 The election of the current Philippines president, Rodrigo Duterte, brought not only an internationally human rights crisis but an estimated total of 27,000 unlawful killings by police, including the murders of political activists, community leaders and human rights defenders. Yet official figures state 8,000.


Known as the “war on drugs” the crisis started after an immediate withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) which allowed Duterte to continue with his drugs policy that is according to the former Phillipine National Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa, aimed at “the neutralization of illegal drug personalities nationwide”. As the ICC investigates and tries criminals of the gravest crimes such as genocides, war crimes and crimes against humanity, by withdrawing this gave Duterte the authority to give police the permission to kill without consequences. A power that has been abused.


As impunity is prevalent within the country and the power of authorities serving to “protect” being abused, there is also countless backlash towards Duterte which he silences through restrictions, arrests and extrajudicial punishment. Senator Leila de Lima is known not only as the Senator of the Philippines but a highly recognised human rights activist and critic of Duterte. Her criticism was removed in 2018, followed with charges, arrest and detention on the false accusations of “politically motivated” drug use. To this day she is unlawfully detained. Furthermore, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV faced arrest due to his opposition of the drugs policy and Chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno was stripped of her title due to her criticisms. International pressure was brought for accountability into the unlawful killings under Duterte's power by a report, submitted in 2019, by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the request of the the United Nations Human Rights Council, But this was met by the suspension of negotiations for financial assistance from all 18 countries involved with the request. 
These are only a few examples of the unlawful actions taken against those who have authority within the country but the actions taken against the public like you and me, highlight the injustice and crime committed under Duterte's control.


Many of the extrajudicial killings by police that continue today on a regular basis mostly affect impoverished urban areas such as the capital region, Metro Manila and spreading outwardly to other cities and provinces. Although the crisis sees loss of life, the “war on drugs” contributes to the deprivation of the family members affected as well as damaging their mental health.


The Philippine National Police reported that from the start of the policy, July 2016, to the time of report, June 2019, only 5,526 suspects were killed. A contradiction to the 8,000 figure I stated at the beginning from official reports and a figure that forgets to mention the thousands more killed with no reason to investigate or unarmed. There are no official reports to justify any of the figures given out by authorities. The Human Rights Watch suggest that vigilante killings are carried out by the police themselves or under the order of government authority. Such killings were predominant in Manila but have recently increased in Gebu City and the Bulacan province.


The Human Rights Watch documented the police failing to bring suspected drug users or distributors into custody, instead reporting them to have died while being restrained or due to self defense by officers. The organisation also documented that weapons were planted next to the bodies and the crime scene was cleaned to portray that lethal force was justified.

Justice was found only twice out of the thousands of cases of extrajudicial killings. In August 2017, three police officers were found guilty by the Manila court of the murder of Kian delos Santos who was 17.


In September, a Bulacan court convicted Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan (ex-army) alongside two other military men for the kidnapping and illegal detention of Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan. The two girls were known to be student activists who were abducted, raped and tortured by the men and they remain missing to this day. Both these cases sparked international outrage. But the human rights crisis under Duterte’s power does not stop at the “drugs war” policy. He called for Congress to reinstate the death penalty during his annual State of the Nation Address in July this year (2020) not only for drug convictions but for general convictions. Such reinstatement would violate obligations of the Philippines under the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which commits the country to never reinstating the penalty.


The Asian director of the International Drug Policy Consortium says that the death penalty has not contributed to the solution of the “drugs war” in any country and along with many politcians suggests that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the penalty should not be a priority.


Children's rights have also been violated as the House of Representatives passed the final bill for the minimum age of criminal responsibility to be lowered from 15 to 12 years old. Including drugs related offences. The Senate’s version remains pending as of 2019 and pressure from human rights organisations and the international public is being applied to stop this change of law as it would endanger a child’s life rather than reduce crime. And, under the drugs policy, leave them susceptible to being murdered unlawfully.


Furthermore, Duterte declared in March 2019 a “permanent termination” of peace negotiations between the Philippean government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army as talks were “useless” however, this was reversed in December as he decided to resume peace talks. In October, security forces arrested 50 leftist activists during a raid of three organisations in Bacolod City on the wrongful charges of explosive and firearms training; over 40 were released after pail or being cleared, with 7 still being held on non-bailable charges.


The former education director of the human rights alliance Karapatan, Zara Alvarez, was murdered in Bacolod on 19th August 2020. She was shot six times while walking home after buying her dinner for the evening by an unidentified attacker. The government promises to investigate the case, focussing on the fact she was a member of a “leftist group” as the main lead. Her death comes a few days after speaking out about the new restrictions and laws brought by Duterte for anti terror legislation that allows warrantless arrests and longer detentions without charge. Legal experts warn this will be directed at those who wish to criticise Duterte and further contribute to the “war on drugs” while violating human rights fundamentals as the presumption of innocence will be lost. Calls to investigate the case properly and outrage is ongoing.


The Department of Education was forced to close down 50 schools serving Lumad children (Indigenous) by Duterte as he alleged they were teaching the children to rebel against him and stated he would “bomb” them. Duterte approved a plan for the National Program on Population and Family planning that reduced unwanted and unplanned pregnancies by access to contraceptives although the chief economist for the Philippeans government shared concerns that the plan was underfunded in the national budget andaccess was difficult. 


The SOGIE Equality Bill (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression) was a refused to be certified as urgent by Duterte despite national outcry when a transgender woman was restricted from using a woman’s bathroom and arrested for documenting the incident on her phone.


The human rights crisis also affects the workers who strike against unfair labour, low wages, and restriction to benefits. The strikers and protesters were met with police forces, contributing to killings of unidentified or lost victims, arrests and violent dispersals.

Duterte’s term in presidency is set to end in 2022, but the crisis may not and justice may never be served to the thousands of victims affected by the human rights violations conducted under his authority. In one speech, he said “if you go into drugs... I will kill you.” He added: “Even with the United Nations listening, I will kill you, period.”

And they are. We all are. And together, we can contribute by using our voices to highlight the crisis and request for pressure to be put on Duterte, to bring equality and justice to the Philippines. A president should be directly responsible for the protection of his citizens, not the deaths.

Donate towards the protection of Human Rights:

https://donate.hrw.org/page/9864/donate/1?ea.tracking.id=geo


Sources:

Original article was written on September, 1st, 2020 and published on the Respublica International Website by Samantha McPhillips (me)


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