KARAPATAN stands solidly behind the women relatives of drug war victims of Rise Up for Life and for Rights and National Union of Peoples Lawyers (NUPL) Atty. Kristina Conti, and all other drug war victims and advocates who are being brutally bashed and threatened on social media by the Duterte camp’s mercenary troll army.
KARAPATAN likewise expressed alarm at the spike in sexist and hate speech as well as incitement of violence and harm against these brave women since the arrest on March 11, 2025 of Rodrigo Duterte. Not a few of the posts came in the form of death threats.
This form of harassment against the women relatives of victims is one of the most stark examples of the engendered impunity during the Duterte administration that continues under the current Marcos government. When women speak up and call for justice for their loved ones, they are threatened with violence, discouraged with lies, and demeaned as women. Many others have yet to report cases of extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations because of this tactic of victim bashing.
The same social media operations are done against lawyers of human rights violations victims like Atty. Conti. She has been a subject of disinformation, ridicule, sexist remarks, and threats, while bravely speaking for her clients.
The incendiary posts targeting the women of Rise Up for Life and for Rights and Conti are not simply disinformation, however. They should more accurately be called psychological war (psywar) operations because they are well-funded and systematic, with a clear political agenda. These types of operations, which includes red- and terror-tagging, have long been resorted to by the powerful, including the Duterte and Marcos Jr. regimes, to cover up the ugly truth about their crimes and escape accountability.
KARAPATAN calls on all Filipinos who care for truth, justice and accountability to express their solidarity with the women of Rise Up for Life and for Rights, Atty. Conti and all others who have been targeted by these vicious attacks from Duterte’s troll armies. Let us continue to persevere in upholding the truth about Duterte’s murderous regime, in demanding accountability from the Duterte and Marcos governments on their crimes against the people, and in wielding the people’s unity to end impunity in the country.