Human rights situation after Duterte stays grim

HUMAN RIGHTS composite image from Inquirer file photo by Daniella Marie Agacer

MANILA, Philippines—In stark contrast to his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has not yet uttered ill remarks against activists or alleged drug users, but the violent rhetoric of the Davao strongman still echoes in the human rights violations that persist years after he has left the presidency.

The human rights situation in the Philippines remains grim.

The government on Tuesday, Dec. 10, launched the Philippine Human Rights Action Plan, which is said to be a “comprehensive blueprint” to address violations of human rights.

READ: Human rights violations under Marcos ‘almost similar’ to Duterte’s – CHR

But for the human rights group Karapatan, it was just the Marcos administration’s “most ambitious PR gimmick to date.”

It pointed out that this, as well as a slew of executive orders and task forces formed to investigate rights violations, “cannot gloss over the crimes that have been perpetrated under his watch.”

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Back in March, Marcos, in pointing out that human rights violations were down by half compared to 2022, said that the government sees the rule of law as indispensable in attaining justice.

READ: Marcos forms special body on human rights

“It proves that rules that strengthen the fabric of our democracy–rules that our heroes had died for, rules that [are] enshrined in our Constitution, are not inconveniences in policing but are in fact integral and indispensable in serving up justice,” he said.

When he won the election in 2022, Marcos promised the United Nations, too, that he will protect human rights, with its resident coordinator, Gustavo Gonzales, saying that Marcos emphasized the need to ensure a “high level of accountability” for human rights violations.

Denialism

In July, Karapatan stressed that “rank hypocrisy and denialism” marked the first six months of 2024 as Marcos delved into his “usual tack of distancing himself from the grim reality of human rights violations on the ground.”

This, as Marcos said in March that cases of human rights violations in the Philippines declined by half last year compared to 2022 without giving details to his claim.

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Contrary to his declaration, Karapatan said that there were significant increases in the most serious human rights violations in the Philippines such as extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and enforced disappearances.

GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan/INQUIRER.net

As of June 2024, it already documented 105 cases of EJKs of activists and 12 cases of enforced disappearance, but to date, Karapatan said that there are now 119 cases and 14 victims.

READ: Marcos cites decrease in crimes, human rights violations

Likewise, the current administration’s anti-drug campaign is not bloodless though the number of killings pales in comparison with those during the Duterte years.

GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan/INQUIRER.net

According to data from the Dahas Project of the UP Third World Studies Center, there have been over 850 drug-related deaths to date—342 from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, 360 from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, and 152 from July 1, 2024 to Nov. 30, 2024.

Karapatan said that Marcos should share responsibility for these cases.

Life ‘not decent’

Even Filipinos’ lives have barely improved, with millions of people still struggling to make ends meet despite Marcos’ promise of a “Bagong Pilipinas” when he took office as chief executive in 2022.

GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan/INQUIRER.net

According to data from the Social Weather Stations (SWS), 59 percent or 16.3 million Filipino households considered themselves poor in the third quarter of 2024, an increase from 49 percent, or 12.6 million in the same period in 2022.

Likewise, many Filipinos are still experiencing involuntary hunger, or being hungry and not having anything to eat, at least once in the last three months—22.9 percent in the third quarter of this year from 11.3 percent in the same period in 2022.

“The worsening violations of human rights and international humanitarian law under the current regime are the logical consequences of Marcos Jr.’s refusal to do away with any of the Duterte-era laws and policies,” Karapatan said.

These laws and policies, it pointed out, have enabled such violations.

But while Karapatan “denounced Marcos’ attempts to window-dress the sordid human rights situation and demand justice and accountability from him and his henchmen,” it stressed the need to hold Duterte to account, too.

“We demand that Rodrigo Duterte be arrested, tried and imprisoned for the EJK of up to 30,000 drug suspects. We likewise demand that his daughter Sara be impeached, removed from public office and charged criminally for stealing and misusing public funds,” it said.

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