The report also recommends that the government adopt legislative proposals on human rights defenders and take measures to protect civil society space so that they can play their legitimate role safely and without reprisals. There are international human rights groups advocating for the concerns of environmental and human rights defenders in Mindanao, Philippines. The activism of transnational organizations, which can be described as “participatory”, can foster the engagement of local actors, stakeholders and poor members of communities, and involve them all in political decisions. [15] With regard to the Lumad, human rights defenders want to draw attention to indigenous social issues. According to Duraippah et al. ideal participation is achieved when the principles of transparency and empowerment – through the training of transnational actors by local actors – focus on the needs of indigenous peoples. [15] On December 30, police in Capiz and Iloilo provinces killed nine people and arrested 17 people. Local groups said they came from an indigenous community defending their land, while police claimed they were members of the New People`s Army and that the nine men were killed after resisting arrest. The Joint Programme, signed in July 2021, provides technical assistance and capacity building for reforms in six key areas, including: national surveys and accountability; the collection of data on alleged police offences; the establishment of a national reporting and monitoring mechanism; civic space and cooperation with civil society and the Commission on Human Rights; anti-terrorism legislation; and human rights-based approaches to drug control. According to the United Nations Human Development Report 2020, the maternal mortality rate was 121 per 100,000 live births, and skilled companions participated in 84% of births. The Philippine Commission on Population and Development attributed the increase in maternal mortality to mothers not receiving optimal care in hospitals and other birth facilities during the pandemic. The United Nations Population Fund, based on its analysis of the 2016 Maternal Mortality Review, reported that poverty, remote locations and lack of education have exacerbated delays in finding potentially life-saving medical care for mothers; whereas midwives sometimes had little formal training; and that medical personnel regularly abused women who sought help for complications related to unsafe abortions and denied them adequate care. The Aquino government has carried out reforms for a more effective criminal investigation and has passed laws to improve respect for human rights.
However, these reforms are underdeveloped. One example is the formation of the Inter-Agency Committee on Extrajudicial Executions, which had difficulty identifying the case to be prosecuted because of procedural requirements. [Citation needed] NGOs have sometimes linked the killing of militants to counterinsurgency operations by state security forces, particularly the military (see section 6, Indigenous Peoples). The NGO Front Line Defenders documented 25 killings of human rights defenders in 2020, including 21 environmental, rural and indigenous activists. In May, ABS-CBN celebrated the first anniversary of the cessation of its broadcasting activities following the non-renewal of its broadcasting activities and a cease and desist order by the National Telecommunications Commission from cease operations. The network was forced to shut down regional stations across the country that provided independent information to human rights activists and communities. The executive director of the Center for Media Freedom and Accountability, Melinda De Jesus, called it “an unprecedented act of state power that has struck at the heart of the media system. and shook the community with this experience.” “If this abs-CBN can happen, then it can happen to any of the others,” she said. De Jesus called this a “contagion” and noted that “Duterte`s hostility to the free press has spread among government officials at all levels, who have taken the president`s own position of intimidation and launched a series of actions against the press.” The phenomenon of “red marking” – the labelling of individuals or groups (including human rights defenders and NGOs) as communists or terrorists – poses a serious threat to civil society and freedom of expression. The report notes how, in some cases, those marked in red were later killed.
Others told the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that they had received death threats or sexual comments in private messages or on social media. There were concerns that COVID-19 restrictions would prevent millions of potential voters from registering for the May 2022 national elections. The legislator imposed a one-month extension of voter registration. An August 2020 election commission resolution states that voter registration cannot be reopened in areas below the highest COVID-19 quarantine or lockdown levels. NGOs and the media reported that local governments and law enforcement have used physical and psychological abuse, including shame, as punishment for curfew violations in the community`s quarantine. According to torture laws, it is illegal to publicly parade a person or shame a person if it is used to undermine their dignity and morals. In April, officials in the village of General Trias, Cavite province, arrested Darren Penaredondo, 28, for violating the curfew. According to media reports, Penaredondo and others were taken to the local town square by police, forced to do 100 push-ups, then forced to repeat the exercise because they were out of sync, and eventually completed 300 repetitions. Penaredondo then reportedly struggled to return home, where he lost consciousness and died a few hours later.
The Constitution provides for freedom of internal movement, travel abroad, emigration and repatriation, and the Government has generally respected these rights. The government has imposed progressive quarantine measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, restricting freedom of movement. The Bureau of Prison Management and Penology, the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the PNP controlled 470 municipal, county, municipal and provincial prisons that held detainees awaiting trial, persons awaiting a final verdict and convicts serving prison sentences of three years or less.