Human rights lawyer Edre Olalia said that the award is an “extraordinary recognition by one’s own peers,” an acknowledgment of people’s lawyering as a legitimate field of practice.
Progressive groups demand accountability for over half a billion pesos in questionable expenditures, citing violation of laws, false reports, and obstruction of investigations.
“This is not just a fight for the two of us but for all environmental and human rights defenders in the Philippines."
“We hope that our government will put Mary Jane in a safe place, and that she will be granted clemency by our government,” said Celia Veloso, Mary Jane’s mother, during the program commemorating the birth of Andres Bonifacio last November 30 (Saturday).
“The police and military are subjecting Ritual’s family to harassment and psychological torture. They are forcing an undue process and adding unusual requirements to prove their identities as kin."
Residents said that in 2023, SMC initially presented a “resettlement program" for Mariahangin families, offering money amounting to P75,000 with land or P100,000 if without land. Recently, the offer has increased to P400,000 per family to urge them to vacate their ancestral lands.
In 2023, DAR revoked the NOC of the 10,821 hectares of land of the indigenous peoples in Bugsuk, Palawan which was initially issued in 2014. Residents said that this decision by DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III prompted escalated harassment and intimidation in their community in Sitio Mariahangin.
“These executive orders and the NHRAP are desperate attempts by the Marcos regime to cover up its sordid human rights record. These are hypocritical actions while it continues to implement policies that infringe on Filipinos' basic rights and freedoms and wantonly violate IHL," said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay.
The child-focused group noted there was an estimate of 10,000 IP students in Mindanao who were affected after the discontinuation of over 200 Lumad schools, which were built by non-government organizations, IP communities, and church workers.
“Jay-El was a son, a brother, and a leader. He deserved a future, not a bullet."
United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion Irene Khan urged the Philippine government to review cases of journalists facing charges in court, asking as well about the status of yet unsolved media killings in the country.
Jerrie Abella, an AI campaigner, detailed the three critical stages where human rights violations occur: during arrests, within drug detention centers, and post-release. Abella described so-called "drug rehabilitation centers" as punitive detention facilities where individuals, including adolescents, are subjected to invasive drug tests and forced treatment. These centers, he said, do not offer rehabilitation but instead serve as sites of coercion.
The deal forged in Baku is an appalling development for the climate and planet, especially for the agri-food systems and all the vulnerable and marginalized social sectors that rely on it for their life and livelihood.
"Justice is holding Duterte and his accomplices accountable. They are responsible for thousands of extrajudicial killings."
Eusebio Pelayo, 69, a community leader and a Molbog resident in Mariahangin, Bugsuk, Palawan, is summoned to court on December 4 due to a criminal complaint filed by Caesar M. Ortega, described as the “Authorized Representative of Land owners situated within Bowen Island” in the document. Ortega is NCIP’s former OIC executive director of the NCIP and Ancestral Domain Office’s (ADO) former director.
“I can’t accept until now. It has been 15 years, but there is still no further action. I lost my trust in the government,” said Catherine Nuñez whose son Victor, a UNTV reporter, was one of the 32 media workers and 26 others killed in the bloody massacre.
As the Philippines loan burden rises from internationally-funded projects like the P11.8-billion (USD 200, 218, 740) Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEX), local farmers are forced to constantly borrow money to sustain their livelihoods and families for day-to-day survival.
MANILA – United Nations mandate holders expressed deep concern on the terrorism and terrorist financing charges against 27 development workers of Cebu-based non-government organization Community Empowerment Resource Network Inc. (CERNET). The UN mandate holders...
“Development projects should be planned and implemented in the context of the country's urgent needs and solutions to current dilemmas, and with thorough consideration of its long-term effects on the environment."
“We cannot sleep well these days because we fear that they will enter the community. Our husbands have skipped work and our livelihoods have been paralyzed just so we can defend our ancestral land from their attempts to seize it. Our children sometimes do not have anything to eat.”
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