Human rights in the Philippines are protected by the Constitution of the Philippines, to make sure that persons in the Philippines are able to live peacefully and with dignity, safe from the abuse of any individuals or institutions, including the state.
The Davao Death Squad (DDS) is a vigilante group in Davao City, Philippines. The group is alleged to have conducted summary executions of street children and individuals suspected of petty crimes and drug dealing. It has been estimated that the group is responsible for the killing or disappearance of between 1,020 and 1,040 people between 1998 and 2008. The 2009 report by the CHR noted stonewalling by local police under Duterte while a leaked cable observed a lack of public outrage among Davao residents.
Extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances in the Philippines are illegal executions – unlawful or felonious killings – and forced disappearances in the Philippines. These are forms of extrajudicial punishment, and include extrajudicial executions, summary executions, arbitrary arrest and detentions, and failed prosecutions due to political activities of leading political, trade union members, dissident or social figures, left-wing political parties, non-governmental organizations, political journalists, outspoken clergy, anti-mining activists, agricultural reform activists, members of organizations that are alleged as allied or legal fronts of the communist movement or claimed supporters of the NPA and its political wing, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Other frequent targets are ancestral land rights defenders, Indigenous rights activists, environmentalists, and human rights workers.
The prevalence of illegal drug use in the Philippines is lower than the global average, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). President Rodrigo Duterte has claimed that the country could become a "narco-state". Two of the most used and valuable illegal drugs in the country are methamphetamine hydrochloride and marijuana. In 2012, the United Nations said the Philippines had the highest rate of methamphetamine use in East Asia, and according to a U.S. State Department report, 2.1 percent of Filipinos aged 16 to 64 use the drug based on 2008 figures by the Philippines Dangerous Drugs Board. As of 2016, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime report that 1.1 percent of Filipinos aged 10 to 69 use the drug. In Metro Manila, most barangays are affected by illegal drugs.
On October 11, 2014, Jennifer Laude, a Filipina trans woman, was drowned to death by Joseph Scott Pemberton, a Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps in Olongapo, Philippines. Pemberton admitted assaulting Laude and deployed a trans panic defense in his 2015 trial. His charge was downgraded from murder to homicide by a judge in 2015, and he was convicted on December 1, 2015. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte granted an absolute pardon to Pemberton in September 2020.
The Philippine drug war, known as the War on Drugs, is the intensified anti-drug campaign of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, who served office from June 30, 2016, to June 30, 2022. The campaign reduced drug proliferation in the country, but has been marred by extrajudicial killings allegedly perpetrated by the police and unknown assailants. An estimated 7,742 civilians have been killed in "anti-drug operations" carried out by the government and its supporters between 2016 and 2021.
Cardboard Justice is a term conceptualised by Hope Swann, a teacher from De La Salle University in Manila, Philippines. The context of coining this term is the extrajudicial killings of criminals especially the drug peddlers in Philippines. The term is derived from a practice of some vigilante groups leaving a cardboard on the slain person with "Pusher Ako" written on it. Adrienne Onday, a researcher and feminist activist, back then a student from the University of the Philippines was inspired by Hope Swann which made her travel from Quezon City to Manila with a cardboard with “Lahat tayo posibleng drug pusher”. The movement took off in Philippines with many youngsters protesting against Cardboard Justice being carried out across the country.
Protests against Former President Rodrigo Duterte escalated on November 18, 2016, following Duterte's support of the burial of the late president Ferdinand Marcos. These series of protests are mostly conducted by progressive groups and other opposing figures mainly due to the ongoing war on drugs, the declaration of martial law in Mindanao, and employment issues such as contractual terms being applied by companies and inflation which occurred due to the passage of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law. Other causes of the protests include the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the passage of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, and the shutdown and franchise denial of ABS-CBN.
Kian delos Santos, Carl Arnaiz and Reynaldo de Guzman were three teenagers who were killed on August 16 to 18, 2017, during the course of the Philippine drug war.
Shibby Lapeña de Guzman is a Filipina youth activist. She is best known for her protests against the burial of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani and against extrajudicial killings amid the anti-drug campaign of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. She was named as one of the thirty most influential teenagers of 2017 by Time magazine.
The following is a timeline of protests against Rodrigo Duterte, the 16th President of the Philippines, and his policies. Issues were addressed in the protests including the war on drugs, employment issues, anti-terror law, and the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Red-tagging in the Philippines is the malicious blacklisting and harassment of individuals or organizations critical or not fully supportive of the actions of a sitting government administration in the country. These individuals and organizations are "tagged" as either communist or terrorist or both, regardless of their actual political beliefs or affiliations. It is a type of incitement and has pernicious effects on its targets. Red-tagging may be performed by either security forces, government officials or shills.
Arlene D. Brosas is a Filipina educator, child rights activist, and politician. She is a member of the Philippine House of Representatives for the 19th Congress and was part of the 18th Congress under the Gabriela Women’s Party-list group.
Ma. Salvacion Espina Varona, more popularly known as Inday Espina-Varona is a Filipina journalist. She is Head of Regions for Rappler. She was formerly a senior contributing editor and a writer for ABS-CBN Integrated News & Current Affairs.
The Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP) is a youth ecumenical national democratic mass organization in the Philippines. It aims to uphold students rights and participates in numerous local and worldwide peoples' advocacies. As with other SCMs around the world, SCMP is a member of the World Student Christian Federation. In the Philippines, it is an associate member of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and Kalipunan ng Kristiyanong Kabataan sa Pilipinas (KKKP). It is also a member and a founding organization of Kabataan Partylist.
Anakbayan is an international militant youth organization espousing Marxism–Leninism–Maoism and National Democracy based in the Philippines. It is part of the broader Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, a left-wing alliance in the Philippines.
The 2021 Calabarzon raids, also referred to as Bloody Sunday and COPLAN ASVAL, were a series of operations conducted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Army in Calabarzon, Philippines, on March 7, 2021, that resulted in the killing of nine activists and the arrest of six individuals. The victims were left-wing activists and environmentalists, including six who were killed in Rizal, two in Batangas, and one in Cavite.
The State of the Nation Addresses of Rodrigo Duterte, the 16th president of the Philippines, were met with several protests.
Bonifacio Parabuac Ilagan, often known just as Boni Ilagan, is a Filipino playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, journalist, and editor best known for numerous socially-conscious, critically-acclaimed works in theater, film and television, most notably the films The Flor Contemplacion Story (1995), Dukot, Sigwa, and Deadline ; as well as his first play, Pagsambang Bayan (1976), which portrayed the human rights violations of the Marcoses. He is also one of the prominent torture victims who survived the Marcos dictatorship.
Protests against President Bongbong Marcos have occurred mainly in the Philippines even before the inauguration of the president on June 30, 2022. Protest have been mostly conducted by progressive and opposition groups due to the violent and plunderous legacy of the Marcos family during the martial law era and throughout the rule of his father, former President Ferdinand Marcos; unpaid real-estate taxes; alleged electoral fraud during the 2022 presidential elections; instances of fake news and historical distortion; cases of human rights violations such as extra-judicial killings and the continuing war on drugs; and other social issues. Protests against the president have also included grievances against Vice President Sara Duterte as well as seeking of accountability from his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte. Mobilizations have also been held by Filipino-Americans and other solidarity and progressive groups abroad such as in United States, Australia, and Canada.
