Philippines: Marcos Failing on

Rights
New York) – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will mark his first year in
office on June 30, 2023, having done little to improve human rights
protections in the Philippines, Human Rights Watch said today.
Marcos took over from Rodrigo Duterte, whose administration left a
legacy of attacks on leftist, environmental and Indigenous activists, a
crackdown on the media, and thousands of extrajudicial killings linked
to its “war on drugs” that could amount to crimes against humanity.

Marcos has done little to address the pending human rights issues.
Police and their agents continue their “drug war” killings, though at a
lower rate than during the Duterte administration. The authorities
remain responsible for extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances,
and arbitrary arrests of activists and outspoken critics. And the
baseless prosecutions of former Senator Leila de Lima, who remains in
custody, and the journalist Maria Ressa continue.

“President Marcos needs to do more than issue statements about

democracy and the rule of law to demonstrate a genuine commitment
to human rights,” said Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human
Rights Watch. “Without concrete action to break old patterns of
abuses and secure accountability for past crimes, his words have little
credibility.”

Marcos has tried to assuage foreign governments’ concerns,

contending that the Philippines is in good hands under his leadership.
In overseas trips and meetings with ambassadors, he has pledged to
improve the human rights situation, which diplomats in Manila and
officials abroad have lauded.

But few human rights accomplishments are evident, Human Rights

Watch said. The UP Third World Studies Center reported on June 26
that there had been 336 “drug-related” killings since Marcos became
president, most during law enforcement anti-drug operations. Out of
the thousands of cases of drug war killings since 2016, only three have
resulted in the conviction of police officers.

Marcos has yet to rescind the orders and other policy statements that
underpinned Duterte’s “war on drugs.” He should formally announce
an end to the “drug war,” order investigations into officials implicated
in illegal killings, and fulfill his promise to use nonviolent means to
address illegal drugs. Government agencies should provide adequate
and consistent support to the families of “drug war” victims,
especially children.

Both government security forces and the communist New People’s

Army have been responsible for serious abuses during their decades-
long armed conflict. The Marcos administration has increased the
dangerous and at times fatal “red-tagging” of activists deemed to be
supporting the insurgents. Officials – including Marcos’s vice
president, Sara Duterte, who is also the education secretary – have
red-tagged journalists, social media users, and teachers. Marcos
should stop the red-tagging and other harassment, and order the
authorities to locate activists reported missing.

The authorities are still arbitrarily arresting and detaining activists

and critics of the government, and at times carrying out enforced
disappearances. Victims and witnesses have made
credible allegations of torture, mistreatment, and sexual violence. The
Philippine National Police, which has a long history of abuse and
corruption, has been responsible for many of these abuses.

The Marcos administration has taken no action to end the politically

motivated prosecution or even to recommend bail for former senator
de Lima, who was arrested in 2017 in retaliation for her investigations
into Duterte’s “drug war.” The prosecution brought bogus drug
charges and cited witnesses who later recanted their testimony,
leading to her acquittal in two of the three cases.

Media freedom in the Philippines is undercut by violence against

journalists. Four journalists have been killed over the past year,
bringing the number to 179 journalists killed since democratic
government was restored in 1986. The government has not intervened
in the remaining dubious criminal case against the Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Maria Ressa and her team at the news outlet Rappler. A
journalist, Frenchie Mae Cumpio, remains behind bars facing criminal
charges, apparently to punish her for reporting on rights abuses in the
central Philippines.

The Philippines is seeking to secure the renewal of the European

Union GSP+ trade benefits, which depend on the government’s
compliance with international human rights, labor rights, and
environmental standards. The program expires at the end of 2023,
and the Philippines will have to reapply to continue to benefit from it.
The European Parliament had urged withdrawal of the GSP+ benefits
because of lack of progress in the Philippines’ human rights record.
Similar concerns have been expressed by EU officials, including most
recently by the EU special representative for human rights.

The US government, a major trading partner and military ally, should

also more explicitly link future growth in economic and security ties to
demonstrable progress on human rights.

The UN Human Rights Council should continue to press the

Philippines government to carry out the recommendations of the 2020
and 2022 reports of the UN Human Rights Office, and bring the
situation back onto its agenda when it meets in September.

Marcos should order government agencies to cooperate with

a possible investigation by the International Criminal Court. While the
Duterte administration withdrew from the court’s founding treaty, the
Rome Statute, in 2019, the court retains jurisdiction over crimes
committed before the withdrawal. The Marcos administration
should rejoin the Rome Statute.

“Marcos needs to demonstrate a break from the past and show

concrete, measurable progress on human rights,” Lau said. “The
Philippines’ international partners should stop getting a runaround
from Marcos and settle for nothing less than real change.”