Media Release Type: Press statement

As we mark the 51st anniversary of the declaration of martial law today, we recall a time of widespread repression and terror, where the voices of the people were silenced and their rights trampled upon.  Dangling the communist bogey, the dictator Marcos Sr.’s martial law saw at least 3,257 extrajudicially killed, 35,000 tortured, 70,000 unjustly …

Unbridled tyranny, corruption and oppression from Marcos Sr. to Marcos Jr. Read More »

Photo by Jam Sta. Rosa/Agence France-Presse September 20, 2023 Now that the truth is out, Karapatan demands that everyone involved in the abduction, enforced disappearance and fake surrender of environmental activists Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano be held accountable, especially the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) whose malicious and baseless …

NTF-ELCAC is accountable for the abduction, enforced disappearance and fake surrender of two women environmental defenders Read More »

Photo from NNARA-Youth September 19, 2023 In what is rapidly becoming a sinister pattern, two individuals were abducted on September 15, 2023 by suspected State agents in Negros Occidental. A Facebook post by Negros alternative media outfit Paghimutad reported that Bea Lopez, a 26-year-old peasant organizer and resident of Sitio Langud, Brgy. Camalandaan, Cauayan, Negros …

Karapatan decries another abduction case in Negros, one found dead Read More »

Photo from AlterMidya September 19, 2023 Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano have spoken the truth, despite the coerced situation that they are in – they have declared they were abducted by the military, that they did not surrender and they were held inside a military camp, under pressure and under duress, making all the claims …

Release Jhed and Jonila now! Read More »

September 16, 2023 Today’s press conference by the National Task Force to End Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) confirms what we have been stated as a stark possibility — that State actors are involved in the disappearance of Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, two environmental activists who were reported missing …

Rights groups denounce statements by NTF-ELCAC, PNP on the case of Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano Read More »

Photo from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers September 15, 2023 Karapatan condemns the brutal killing of a woman lawyer in Abra yesterday afternoon. Atty. Saniata Alzate was shot dead by gunmen riding in tandem on a motorcycle while she was in her car that was parked in front of her house in Bangued, Abra.  …

Karapatan condemns murder of woman lawyer in Abra Read More »

Photo from Office of the Ombudsman/Facebook September 12, 2023 Karapatan views with grave concern Ombudsman Samuel Martires’ statements in yesterday’s budget deliberations which call for greater opaqueness rather than transparency in government transactions. This, at a time when we are being buffeted by reports of graft, massive corruption in high places and misuse and abuse …

Concerns raised on Ombudsman’s recent statements during budget deliberations Read More »

September 9, 2023 Karapatan condemns in the strongest possible terms the abduction and disappearance of Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, two young environmental defenders who went missing in Barangay Lati, Orion, Bataan on the night of September 2, 2023.  We view with grave concern the growing number of the involuntarily disappeared under the current regime. …

Surface Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano! Read More »