CPDG Secretariat

Asserting People’s Rights Amid Impunity and Closing of Civic Space: A Roundtable Discussion on Repressive Bills and Alternatives

As of July 2026, 222 human rights defenders have been charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act (TFPSA). 138 of them have been acquitted. Even so, banks keep freezing accounts, services to communities stop, and development workers with their families carry the cost while cases drag on. Now Congress […]

FINANCIAL & ORGANIZATIONAL ATTACKS: PH’s expanding system for political repression

FINANCIAL & ORGANIZATIONAL ATTACKS:PH’s expanding system for political repressionKapit-Bisig Conference, Toronto, CanadaIBON Foundation/Defend NGOs Alliance, Sept 26, 2026by: Sonny Africa We can start from where Karapatan’s input ended. We’ve seen how dissenters are identified and criminalized through “lawfare,” or the weaponization of the law for political repression. This input will focus on how the state […]

CTUHR’s Kamz Deligente on the World Day for Decent Work

Kamz Deligente, Executive Director of the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR), on the right to organize and the celebration of the World Day for Decent Work.   Filipino translation: Walang disenteng trabaho kung walang layang mag-organisa ang mga manggagawa. Ang kalayaan sa pagsapi sa asosasyon—karapatan ng mga manggagawa na mag-unyon—ang nagbibigay sa kanila […]

Broad Nets, Narrow Freedoms: The Chill of the New Espionage Act

Broad Nets, Narrow Freedoms: The Chill of the New Espionage ActPosition Paper of the Defend NGOs Alliance on HB 964223 September 2026 The Defend NGOs Alliance strongly opposes House Bill No. 9642, “An Act Expanding the Coverage of Espionage Law,” cited as the “New Espionage Act,” authored by Representative Zamora (Y.M.), Oducado, Suan, Romualdo, and […]

Enhancing Democracy and Development Effectiveness: The Civil Society Organizations’ Way

CPDG at 20

The Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG) was formally established twenty years ago today, on 26 September 2006. Its first general assembly included grassroots-based civil society organizations (CSOs), both non-government organizations (NGOs) and people’s organizations (POs) alike, as well as scientists and research institutions advancing people’s rights and welfare, development effectiveness and genuine people’s […]

CHR holds 2nd Roundtable Discussion on the Human Rights Defenders Protection Bill

QUEZON CITY, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) organized its second roundtable discussion on the Human Rights Defenders (HRD) Protection bill aiming to consult stakeholders from various sectors and advocacies for inputs into the draft legislation. The roundtable discussion is part of a series of consultations the Commission has conducted to develop a […]

Martial Law and the Unbroken Chain of Deprivation

Fifty-four years since Ferdinand Marcos Sr. declared martial law, the nation is governed once more by a Marcos who has proven that the family’s defining trait was never merely authoritarianism. It was impunity: the conviction that public office is private property, and that no institution will ever make them answer for what they take. The […]

No to Pax Silica, Yes to People-Centered Development

PRESS RELEASEAugust 31, 2026  QUEZON CITY, Philippines — The Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG) joined the launch of Network Opposed to Pax Silica at the CICM Maryhill School of Theology in Quezon City. The event was attended by advocates, farmers, indigenous leaders and indigenous community members, workers, people’s organizations, civil society organizations, environmental […]

CPDG Denounces NTF-ELCAC Disinformation and Calls for Abolition

The Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG) strongly denounces the latest round of disinformation from the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and the broader security establishment it represents. Manufactured “Partnerships”NTF-ELCAC recently circulated a post describing a briefing with a UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN […]