John Michael L.

Manila September 24, 2021

LTS 1: Letters: B

Instructor: Mr. Jimboy Huerto

TELL YOUR MIND!

Write “RIGHT VIOLATION” if the statement provided in the following trivia has violated human rights.

Human rights are the basic rights inherent to all human beings from birth until death. These
rights include the right to life and liberty, personal security, freedom from torture, freedom from
discrimination and freedom from arbitrary arrest, among others.

Since the election of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, it has been widely alleged that these
and many other basic human rights have been violated in the Philippines. According to Human Rights
Watch, Duterte and his War on Drugs has plunged the Philippines into its worst human rights crisis since
the dictatorship years of the 1970s and 1980s.

Here are 10 facts about the current environment of human rights in the Philippines.

_______________ 1. As of January 2018, Human Rights Watch claims that over 12,000 drug suspects
have been killed since the War on Drugs Commenced on July 1, 2016.

RIGHT VIOLATION 2. From July 1, 2016 to September 26, 2017, 3,906 suspected drugs users and dealers
were killed by police. These numbers from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency do not include
deaths by unidentified gunmen — these so-called extra-judicial killings have been responsible for
thousands of more deaths.

RIGHT VIOLATION 3. There was an average of four Filipinos a day who are killed by drive-by motorcycle
attacks, according to data from the Philippines National Police.

_______________ 4. Between July 1, 2016 and September 26, 2017, 118,287 drug personalities were
arrested, and 1,308,078 others surrendered to authorities. These numbers according to an official
government report.

RIGHT VIOLATION 5. Police have killed 56 children since the start of the War on Drugs according to
Human Rights Watch.

RIGHT VIOLATION 6. Since 1986, 177 Filipino reporters have been killed. According to Reporters
Without Borders, the Philippines was the deadliest country in Asia for journalists in 2017. President
Duterte has continually vilified journalists who have been critical of his administration.

RIGHT VIOLATION 7. The Department of Labor and Employment reported that, as of 2017, 18,000
women and children work in dangerous small-scale gold mining operations in the Philippines.

RIGHT VIOLATION 8. The Department of Social Welfare and Development stated that 85,570 child
laborers work in the agricultural sector in the Philippines.
RIGHT VIOLATION 9. More than 8,000 Filipinos were arrested from June 13 to June 26, 2018 for
violating new anti-loitering laws. The laws have been labeled as discriminatory, essentially targeting and
jailing poor Filipinos for being in public.

________________10. As of September 2017, 94 percent of Filipinos behind bars were still awaiting
their first day in court. The Department of Justice stated that it had over 700,000 outstanding cases.