Nearly a decade after the deed, a police intelligence officer in then President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration has been convicted of homicide for the death of a drug suspect in Baguio City in July 2016. It is only the fifth known conviction related to Duterte’s “war on drugs” that has resulted in the extrajudicial killing (EJK)...
Tag: human rights
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In search of the missing and to disrupt the status quo, one film at a time
“On April 28, 2007, 36-year-old Jonas Burgos was having lunch in a mall in Quezon City when six armed men and a woman, who identified themselves as police, forcibly took him, dragging him like a pig and forcing him into a vehicle. As he was being abducted, witnesses reported him shouting, ‘Aktibista lang po ako...
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Garma says Duterte phoned her after her testimony on drug war’s ‘reward system’
Former president Rodrigo Duterte phoned retired police colonel Royina Garma after she testified two weeks ago at a hearing of the House of Representatives’ quad committee that killings were enforced in his “war on drugs” in exchange for rewards. Garma made the admission under questioning by Alliance of Concerned Teachers partylist Rep. France Castro during...
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‘Gatilyo: Tatlong Dula ng Pag-alala’ is ‘tokhang’ revisited
The period from June 2016 to June 2022 will always be considered among the darkest days in contemporary Philippine history. According to government figures, at least 6,252 persons were felled during the “war on drugs,” but human rights organizations put the number between 12,000 and 30,000. Small wonder that “tokhang” (or when cops knock on...
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Pia Wurtzbach urges ‘allies’ to help fight for LGBTQIA+ rights
Pia Wurtzbach has been a staunch ally of the LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and others) community since her much-celebrated journey into pageantry. And nine years after she was crowned Miss Universe in 2015, the actress and global influencer is still advocating its cause. In welcoming Pride Month this June, Wurtzbach gallantly...
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‘Sigh of relief’ for high court ruling on grave threat posed by Red-tagging
The Marcos administration should declare that it has no Red-tagging policy following the Supreme Court ruling that deems such action as a threat to the life, liberty and security of those being labelled as communist insurgents. And to further ease the fears of activists and human rights defenders, the government should also abolish the controversial...
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‘Spirit of the Glass’ keeps the fight for human rights alive
“Spirt of the Glass,” a new play written by Bonifacio P. Ilagan and directed by Joel Lamangan, had a brief run at the IBG-KAL Theater at the University of the Philippines, Diliman on March 8-10, with two performances per day. We caught the 2:30 p.m. show (the other was at 7 p.m.) on March 10,...
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Case of filmmaker, friends shows need for public awareness of warrantless arrest
The practice of warrantless arrest and the necessity of public awareness of its workings was highlighted in the recent release of filmmaker Jade Castro and his three friends from a jail facility in Catanauan, Quezon. Castro, sales manager Ernesto Orcine, and civil engineers Noel Mariano and Dominic Ramos were freed at 7.30 p.m. on March...
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Clearing the air: Questioning Singapore’s carbon credits decisions
For some time now, Singapore has been relentlessly transforming itself into a global carbon trading hub. What does this entail? In Singapore, a company that directly releases 25,000 tons or more of carbon dioxide equivalents (tCO2e) per year is considered a large emitter. A carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) is a metric that converts other emitted gases, such as nitrogen...