Latest News

In the wake of the quo warranto petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General seeking to forfeit the legislative franchise of broadcasting network ABS-CBN, human rights alliance Karapatan tagged Solicitor General Jose Calida as “a pathetic lapdog to the whims of Duterte’s political vendetta” and slammed Calida’s petition as “a direct assault on press freedom, human rights, and democracy in the country.”

In a press conference in Quezon City today, human rights group Karapatan questioned the integrity and independence of Judge Eligio Petilla of the Regional Trial Court Branch 44 in Tacloban City, who issued the search warrants effecting the highly questionable search and arrests of five human rights defenders last February 7, 2020.

Karapatan denounces the arrest of our National Council member for Eastern Visayas Alexander Philip Abinguna along with four other human rights defenders, in the course of Gestapo-like police raids of our chapter’s office in Tacloban City and that of other people’s organizations.

Human rights group Karapatan condemns the arrest of its National Council member in Western Mindanao, Engr. Jennefer Aguhob, yesterday, February 5, 2020.

Aguhob was reportedly arrested based on a warrant for charges of murder issued on July 26, 2019 by Judge Victoriano Lacaya, Jr. of Regional Trial Court Branch 9 in Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte. She is currently detained at the Oroquieta City Police Station.

Human rights group Karapatan called for an independent investigation of the intelligence and confidential funds allocated for all government agencies, as it slammed the allocation of such funds for the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). The rights group made the statement following the revelations of DICT Undersecretary Eliseo Rio, who resigned from his post on Monday, February 3, over anomalies on the use of the department’s confidential funds.