Media Releases

Human rights alliance Karapatan reiterated the call to free all political prisoners in the Philippines on just and humanitarian grounds, following the urgent appeal of United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet for governments to protect people held in overcrowded detention centers and other closed centers from the threat of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Human rights watchdog Karapatan strongly decried the government’s “double standard” on how penalties are being imposed amid the Luzon-wide “enhanced community quarantine” against the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.  The group’s statement came after the Department of Justice (DOJ) insisted that Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III — who recently tested positive for COVID-19 — will not be investigated nor subjected to a warrantless arrest despite breaching quarantine protocols in accompanying his wife at the Makati Medical C

President Rodrigo Duterte has now signed into law a measure granting himself emergency powers to supposedly address the public health crisis brought about by the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which allows unbridled and general rule-making authority of the president and without parameters or restrictions including the power to arbitrarily define and penalize "fake news" with up to two months in jail and 1 million pesos of fines.

With the worsening crisis brought by the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the government needs to pour in all of its resources to formulate the urgent and necessary public health and economic measures to mitigate the alarming transmission of the disease.

Amid the lethal impact of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, human rights group Karapatan called for the release of political prisoners, especially the elderly,  sick with chronic, debilitating or terminal medical conditions, pregnant, those who are due for parole or pardon, at least one spouse each of political prisoner couples and accidental victims of political arrests.

Human rights group Karapatan raised alarm over statements made by Martin Diño, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) undersecretary for barangay affairs, that individuals can be arrested without warrant during the Luzon-wide “enhanced community quarantine” against the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic supposedly because human rights disappear and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended when a state of emergency is declared.

Human rights alliance Karapatan called on the Duterte government to uphold and respect people’s rights amid the imposition of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine against the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Karapatan said that stringent measures currently being imposed make poor communities of workers, the homeless, the urban and rural poor vulnerable to arrests and detention as well as other rights abuses and violations.

Human rights alliance Karapatan strongly condemns the murder of cultural worker Marlon Maldos in Cortes, Bohol and the massacre of peace consultant and former political prisoner Julius Giron and his two companions, including a medical doctor, in Baguio City, as well as the arbitrary arrest of Manobo leader Gloria Tumalon based on trumped-up charges.

Human rights alliance Karapatan denounces the arrest of its Regional Council Member for Northern Mindanao Teresita Naul on March 15, 2020 at around 8:00 a.m. at her relative’s residence in Lala, Lanao del Sur.

Amid the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, human rights group Karapatan asserted that while it “recognizes and understands the necessity of implementing stringent quarantine measures for the interest of public health and safety,” the implications of an “enhanced” community quarantine for the entirety of Luzon — which Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo and Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año earlier described as a “total lockdown” — “should be a cause for concern in light of the government’s m