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“The country lost a dedicated public servant who never cowered in fear in asserting people’s rights and civil liberties despite every curse and insult of a tyrannical president since 2016."
In her oral update, Bachelet urged political aspirants on all sides to “set aside the ugly rhetoric against human rights defenders, attack (on) independent media, or (in condoning) extra-judicial killings and other violations and abuses.”
“We can already see his noncommittal stance to the ICC’s investigation into the complaints on crimes against humanity by Duterte and his minions. Marcos Jr.'s reasoning is clearly a cop-out for his uninhibited support for Duterte.”
Both Lino Baez and Willy Capareño are no strangers to red-tagging and state harassment. The warrant issued against Baez came from the March 7 raid of his home in Santo Tomas, Batangas, where police and military supposedly “found” firearms and explosives. The raid was part of “Bloody Sunday”, which resulted in the deaths of nine activists and the arrests of seven others.
Farmer activists who are charged with multiple murder charges over the infamous Hilongos mass grave are seeking the dismissal of the cases, saying that the evidence presented against them were insufficient and fabricated.
“Activists have been killed over the last year, both by the security forces and by unknown individuals. In many instances, activists were killed after being red-tagged. In virtually none of the cases has anyone been held accountable for the killings."
"Running for the highest position in the land is one of the Marcoses' plan to rehabilitate their political stature and promote historical lies."
"We reject everything that is destructive to the country. We reject those who act as dictators, the son of the dictator, and the lackeys of dictators. "
Bulatlat compiled short accounts of consultants and staff of the Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, who were arrested and jailed during the dark years of the dictatorship but are now incarcerated for their continuing fight for a genuinely free country.
Following the controversial online interview of the son and namesake of the late dictator, Bulatlat revisited the YouTube vlog of former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his apparent attempts of whitewashing the horrors of martial law.
Today, the 49th year since the imposition of the Marcos dictator, Bulatlat is providing facts and context to these claims.
Another Philippine court acquitted a peace consultant over trumped-up charges stemming from the infamous "search warrant factory" that led to the arrests of scores of activists and human rights workers.
Juan Macababbad handled several cases, particularly in defense of indigenous peoples and protection of the environment.
To date, there are 31 unionists who remain in detention for trumped-up charges and 56 trade unionists extrajudicially killed in the country.
“It is imperative that the Council heed the Filipino people’s call to conduct a probe on the rights violation under the Duterte administration amid impunity and failure of domestic mechanisms to provide redress to victims and hold perpetrators accountable.”
A group of human rights lawyers in the Philippines said that the “overwhelming support” that the International Criminal Court received from approximately 1,530 individual victims and 1,050 families who fell victims of the government’s “war on drugs” may lead to a formal investigation.
Human rights group Karapatan documented 19 victims of enforced disappearances under the Duterte administration. This despite the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012 supposedly in force.
“Karapatan-Central Visayas expresses indignation over another attempt of the state to withhold the body of a peasant rights advocate from her family..."
For human rights group Karapatan, they see no other actor that would have the resources and motivation to take down their website but the Duterte administration.
“The questions left unanswered and the inconsistencies not clarified belies the existence of probable cause which justify the issuance of the search warrants. For this reason, the warrants should be quashed."
"These attacks only benefit those who want to silence us and our human rights work amid a pervasive state of impunity in the country."
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