National

Fourteen months after the Bloody Sunday raids in March 2021 that led to the killing of nine activists and the arrest and detention of four others, elderly political prisoner and human rights worker Nimfa Lanzanas once again appealed to the court to dismiss the charges against her, maintaining that the firearms and explosives allegedly in her possession were planted.

Photo by Michael Varcas/Philippine Star

Human rights alliance Karapatan slammed the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) its “red-tagging overdrive” targeting student walkouts as well as books amid protests expressing discontent over the results of the recent 2022 national elections.

We call on the public to express our rejection of the Marcos Jr.-Sara Duterte tandem in the 2022 polls and beyond.

In an administrative complaint filed today before the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), Concepcion Empeño and Erlinda Cadapan, the mothers of disappeared University of the Philippines students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, together with Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay demanded that the broadcasting franchise of Suara Sug Media Corporation be revoked for airing the interview with retired general and convicted kidnapper Jovito Palparan in Sonshine Media Network International

In a gathering at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani compound in Quezon City, martial law survivors, activists and friends of human rights champion Marie Hilao-Enriquez, chairperson emeritus of Karapatan, paid tribute to her courageous and indefatigable work for the cause of people’s rights, justice, and national democracy. On April 24, 2022, Hilao-Enriquez, a stalwart in the anti-Marcos dictatorship struggle and a leading human rights activist, died in the US.

Photo by Karl Romano/BenarNews

Karapatan stands with journalists, media practitioners, and advocates of freedom of expression and press freedom in the Philippines and worldwide, in commemorating World Press Freedom Day 2022.

Photo by Noel Celis/Getty Images

The unjust detention of Senator Leila De Lima has been made more pronounced by the retraction of testimony by former Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos, a witness in one of the cases against the detained senator. Karapatan urges the court to revisit its decision dismissing De Lima’s motion to dismiss by way of demurrer, in the case where Ragos served as prosecution witness.

Photo by Carlo Manalansan/Bulatlat

Photo by Noel Celis/Getty Images

The call to free Senator Leila De Lima has never been more urgent. Kerwin Espinosa’s recantation of his allegations against Senator De Lima only further proves that, like hundreds of other political prisoners in the Philippines, her unjust incarceration is based on lies.

The terror law is a dangerous piece of legislation which directly harms our basic rights and freedoms. By denying with finality our motions for reconsideration, the Supreme Court has upheld the law’s most draconian provisions — from the vague and overbroad definition of “terrorism,” the arbitrary powers of the Anti-Terrorism Council to designate and freeze assets of individuals and organizations tagged as “terrorists,” and the 24-day period of warrantless detention.