The arrests of United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) pastor and Karapatan – Bikol Spokesperson Dan San Andres and Bicolana Gabriela Chairperson Jenelyn Nagrampa in Camarines Sur on false charges “signal darker days ahead in the country with the signing of the Anti-Terrorism Act,” human rights watchdog Karapatan said, as the group assailed the arrests and charges as “part of the Duterte administration’s continuing crackdown and criminalization of human rights defenders.”

Keeping political prisoner Reina Mae “Ina” Nasino and her newborn baby behind bars is “brutally and grossly merciless,” human rights alliance Karapatan asserted, as the group reiterated its call for the humanitarian release of prisoners — more than three months after Nasino and 21 other political prisoners urgently appealed on the Supreme Court to grant temporary release for prisoners especially low-level offenders, the sick, the elderly, pregnant women, and nursing mothers amid the continuing onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country’s

Human rights watchdog Karapatan called on the Philippine government to address and respond to the “very relevant, valid, competent, and independent comments and questions” raised by nine United Nations (UN) Special Procedures on the Anti-Terrorism Act, which the rights group assailed as a “monstrous and draconian piece of legislation that will heavily impact on the human rights situation in the Philippines.”

Rodrigo Duterte didn't even wait for the bill to lapse into law anymore: he knows his time is running short and opposition to his fascist rule is growing stronger by the day that he now desperately needs the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 to conduct his all-out crackdown on dissent.

In a recently published communication to the Philippine government, nine United Nations (UN) Special Procedures expressed their “extremely serious concern” on allegations of violations against human rights defenders in the Philippines.