Today, as the world marks International Human Rights Day, the Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG) speaks not with optimism, but with urgent concern. Despite promises of reform and respect for human rights, the Philippines remains a dangerous place for those who dare to defend rights, demand justice, or organize for communities. For many Filipinos—Indigenous peoples, workers, environmental defenders, youth activists, urban poor, and rural communities—the grim reality of repression, violence, and impunity continues to outpace any official rhetoric.
The recent review by the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in February 2025 highlighted a stark reality: since the last UPR cycle, there have been 305 killings of human rights defenders in the country—ranking the Philippines third globally for murders and activists and defenders. During the same period, 105 workers have been killed, according to the labor research institution Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (EILER).
Simultaneously, the practice of “red-tagging”—vilifying activists, journalists, organizers, rights defenders, and sometimes entire communities as “terrorists”—remains widespread, carried through digital campaigns, threats, surveillance, and sometimes followed by outright violence. Youth activists, in particular, report being doxed, threatened, or harassed online; many have withdrawn from activism altogether due to safety fears.
For environmental and land defenders the threat is especially grave. In 2023 alone, out of 196 defenders globally killed or disappeared that year, 17 were from the Philippines—making the country the deadliest in Asia for environmental defenders.
Beyond killings and threats, the wider socio-economic conditions remain dire. Communities continue to face land dispossession, inadequate social services, worsening poverty, and lack of access to basic rights. These are not separate from human rights—they are central to them. The 2025 CESCR review raised serious concerns about Indigenous land rights, social inequality, and lack of adequate protections for vulnerable populations.
Human rights are not fulfilled through declarations or legalistic pledges alone; they demand accountability, concrete reforms, and the political will to uphold dignity, justice, and equality.
Therefore, CPDG calls on the Philippine government to:
- Immediately end red-tagging, harassment, and judicial or extrajudicial attacks on civil society, human rights defenders, and grassroots organizations;
- Launch impartial investigations into all killings, disappearances, harassment, and attacks—with genuine prosecution of those responsible;
- Protect the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, association, and dissent without fear of reprisals;
- Uphold socio-economic and cultural rights for all—ensuring access to land, basic services, decent work, and protection for marginalized communities;
- Engage with civil society in meaningful consultation and cooperation to implement the recommendations of the UPR, CESCR, and other human rights bodies with transparency and real accountability.
- Resume the peace talks to end the longest running armed revolution in Asia waged by the New People’s Army, the armed group of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
On this International Human Rights Day, CPDG stands with the communities, defenders, and organizations who continue to fight—not just for survival, but for justice, dignity, and the future of a truly democratic Philippines. Human rights are not a gift from power; they are a birthright of every person—and must be defended.#