Name: Ma. Mikaela Andrea A.

Franco
Subject: MPA – Organization and Management

UNRESOLVED HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE

CASE #1: RESPECT FOR A PERSON’S INTEGRITY

Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and

Other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings

There were multiple accounts of arbitrary or unlawful executions carried out by

government security agents and their unofficial supporters in connection with the
government-led war on illegal drugs. A small number of inquiries into the legality of
security force executions were conducted by a number of government agencies,
including the National Bureau of Investigation, the Center for Law of Armed Conflict
(previously the Human Rights Office), and the national police. However, impunity
continued to be an issue. By government supporters, antigovernment militants, and
unidentified assailants, assassinations of activists, judicial officers, local government
leaders, and journalists also persisted.

In a crackdown in March, nine human rights activists were killed and six were
detained by security forces in the provinces of Laguna, Rizal, and Batangas. The
operation was dubbed "Bloody Sunday" by the media after it took place two days
after President Duterte publicly urged law enforcement to kill communist rebels,
saying, “If there’s an encounter and you see them armed, kill, kill them, don’t mind
human rights, I will be the one to go to prison, I don’t have qualms.” Menardo
Guevarra, the Justice Secretary, stated that the government's Inter-Agency
Committee on Extra-Legal Killings, Enforced Disappearances, Torture, and Other
Grave Violations of the Right to Life, Liberty, and Security of Persons will give the
investigation into the operation first priority (also known as the AO35 committee).
However, as of July, human rights organizations stated that the case had not
changed significantly and that only one crime scene investigation relating to the work
of the AO35 committee had been finished.

Twenty thousand (20,000) anti-drug operations were carried out by law enforcement
agencies between January and August 1, according to government figures. Along
with the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency is
one of the principal organizations waging the government's war on drugs. According
to the government's official drug war tracker (#RealNumbersPH), 180 suspects were
killed and 34,507 were detained during drug operations from January to August.

As a result of the government and nongovernmental organizations' (NGOs) adoption

of various criteria, the reported number of extrajudicial murders varied greatly. As of
August, the independent government organization known as the Commission on
Human Rights (CHR), which is tasked with looking into suspected human rights

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abuses, was looking into 100 new reports of alleged arbitrary or politically motivated
deaths. The crimes allegedly involved 130 victims and were committed by 45
unidentified individuals, five rebels, 39 PNP and 8 AFP members, and three local
government officials. The panel also looked at 49 extrajudicial killings that were
explicitly drug-related and involved 53 victims. In 45 of these new complaints, there
was suspicion of PNP or Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency involvement, and in
four cases, no one was named.

The Violence, Democracy, and Human Rights in the Philippines project of the Third
World Studies Center at the University of the Philippines conducted a study on
extrajudicial murders, which was covered by the media in July. According to a study
that evaluated state violence in the nation, drug-related homicides "remain persistent
across the years," with the "bloodiest years" being 2016, 2018, and 2021, which saw
an average of two to three people killed every day. The survey also showed that the
following provinces continued to be hotspots for the drug war: Metro Manila,
Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, and Nueva Ecija. Operations in West Mindanao,
particularly in the provinces of Davao del Sur and South Cotabato, were noticeably
enhanced during the year. The Children's Legal Rights and Development Center, an
NGO, recorded 18 minor deaths during anti-drug operations between January and
June.

Human rights advocates were still being attacked, according to the media. Two
activists, Marlon Napire and Jaymar Palero, were shot and killed by police in July,
just hours before President Duterte delivered his State of the Nation address. They
were spray painting Duterte Ibagsak (Oust Duterte) on a bridge in Albay, Bicol
Province. Palero, a farmer's organization member from Albay, and Napire, a
representative of Karapatan's Bicol chapter, were allegedly shot by police after they
claimed they were armed. Despite the fact that the two activists were unarmed and
merely carrying paint cans, Karapatan denounced the shooting. When the police
officers departed the scene with Palero and Napire in custody, witnesses asserted
that they did not hear any gunshots. After finding her son's dead hours later, Palero's
mother refuted police reports of a shootout and argued that her son's bruised face,
missing nails, and bullet wounds were evidence of torture.

Killings are frequently committed with no repercussions, according to local and

international human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch. Since the beginning of the drug war in 2016, there have been three
extrajudicial killings that have not been investigated or prosecuted. A committee was
established by the Department of Justice in June 2020 to look into drug-related
fatalities from police operations. Of the 61 cases the PNP opened for the
committee's consideration as of October, the committee looked into 52 of them and
found administrative culpability in them. As early investigation results revealed
incomplete police records and the fact that many victims tested negative for
gunpowder residue, many in civil society believed the departmental investigation was
only being done for show. However, the information released by the department
pushed back against the PNP self-defense narrative. The Internal Affairs Service of

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the PNP looked into the 463 suspects who were killed during 400 anti-drug
operations between January and July.

Police have been accused by civil society organizations of destroying evidence,

interfering with crime scenes, illegally disposing of drug suspects' bodies, and other
cover-up tactics. For allegedly placing evidence on a suspect slain in a buy-bust
operation, seven police officers from the narcotics enforcement unit in Valencia City,
Bukidnon Province, were dismissed of their duties in April; as of October, all of them
were still being looked into. The Valencia City police chief should be fired as a result
of the incident, according to the PNP Northern Mindanao Regional Internal Affairs
Service's recommendation. On March 10, a video that appeared online showed a
man who was allegedly a police officer placing a revolver next to a dead body. The
person who uploaded the video claimed that the incident took place on February 20
in Barangay Batangan in Valencia City, according to the Regional Internal Affairs
Service.

Government, police, military, and judiciary officials were all included on President
Duterte's lists of those he claimed were suspected drug criminals (also known as
"narco-lists"). A former mayor of Maguindanao, who was on the government's narco-
list, was slain in June after allegedly stealing the service gun from his police escort
on the way to the Philippine National Police headquarters following his arrest in
Batangas City.

Disappearance

No cases of forced disappearance ascribed to or implicating the armed forces were

documented from January to July, according to the military's Center for Law of
Armed Conflict, formerly the Human Rights Office but with the same responsibilities.
However, according to the CHR, eight people were kidnapped or forced to disappear
between January and August. Two of these crimes were committed by members of
the armed forces, two by communist rebels, one by a national police officer, one by
purported agents of the National Bureau of Investigation, and the remaining crimes
were committed by individuals who have not been identified.

Elena Tijamo, the coordinator of the farmers' group, was found dead in Manila,
according to a report from Karapatan in September. Unknown people dressed in
civilian attire took Tijamo from her Bantayan Island house in June 2020. Tijamo was
the executive of an agricultural organization that the military had identified as a front
for the New People's Army of the Communist Party of the Philippines in 2019. (NPA).
According to Tijamo's family, they were still able to get in touch with her after her
kidnapping, and she assured them that she would be freed once the pandemic
lockdowns were lifted.

Kidnappings were prevalent and frequently done for illegal reasons (i.e., ransom); in
the past, they were also done for political reasons, both for and against the
government. Numerous kidnappings in Mindanao were linked to terrorist
organizations. Nadia Casar, a Muslim businesswoman, was taken hostage and later

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burned to death by seven men, who were eventually identified as five police officers
and two civilians by the PNP's Anti-Kidnapping Group. Eleven days after the
kidnapping, her body was located. The involved police officers were fired and, as of
October, they and one of the civilian suspects were being held in police custody. The
second civilian was still at large.

According to the law, relatives of alleged disappearance victims can order

government organizations to testify in court about what they know about the
circumstances of a disappearance (or extrajudicial killing) and the victim's
whereabouts. Charges must be filed when there is proof of a kidnapping or murder,
however in many prior instances, proof and documents were either missing or not
gathered. Investigations and legal action in situations of disappearance were
insufficient.

Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or

Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Torture is illegal, and any evidence acquired via it cannot be used in court. But,
according to the CHR, police and security personnel were charged with habitually
assaulting and occasionally torturing suspects and detainees. According to reports,
electric shock, cigarette burns, and suffocation were frequently used as abusive
methods during arrest and interrogation.

By the end of August, the CHR had looked into 21 cases of alleged torture involving
25 victims; in 17 of those cases, it suspected police involvement. As of October, the
NGO Task Force Detainees of the Philippines was monitoring one case of torture
that occurred in 2012 but was first brought to their attention in the beginning of 2021.

Carlo Layaoag, a person with a mental handicap who was accused of stealing cable
wires in Barangay 3, Coron, Palawan Province, was found dead and allegedly
tortured in July, according to the CHR. Two males, one of whom was purportedly a
town councilor, were seen openly harassing Layaoag in a video that the police
disseminated. In a different video, a man can be seen attempting to cut Layaoag with
a handsaw before bringing him to the police station. Layaoag was taken to the
hospital once police became aware of his condition; the following day, he passed
away. After the report's findings were made public, accusations of torture were
brought against the town councilor and the other parties involved.

NGOs and the media alleged that local governments and law enforcement agencies
punished community quarantine curfew offenders with physical and psychological
abuse, including humiliation. When intended to destroy a person's dignity and
morale, public humiliation or parodying of a person is prohibited by the laws against
torture. Darren Penaredondo, 28, was apprehended in April by village officials in
General Trias, Cavite Province, for breaking the curfew. Penaredondo and others
were reportedly escorted to the neighborhood municipal plaza by police, told to
perform 100 push-ups, then made to repeat the activity since they ran out of time,

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eventually finishing 300 repetitions. Penaredondo apparently subsequently fought to
make it home, where he passed out and died a short time later.

Reports of rape and sexual assault against women in protective or law enforcement
custody persisted. On April 5, authorities said that 11 Cebu City police officers had
raped two women who had been held separately at the station for allegedly
possessing weapons and illegal narcotics. One woman alleged that the police
entered her home without a search warrant, confiscated her possessions, and then
arrested her and took her to a hidden room rather than a holding cell after
determining there were no firearms inside. Staff Sergeant Celso Colita, one of the
policemen, later coerced her into making a withdrawal. Colita allegedly stole the
money from her and took her to a motel where she was assaulted. The PNP Central
Visayas Unit and the CHR started looking into the complaints, and the police station
chief was relieved of his duties. The second woman claimed she was physically
tortured by officers who attempted to submerge her head in a pail of water to force
her to confess where she kept her "drug money." But on April 19, the claimed victim
of Sergeant Colita's rape was fatally shot. It was discovered by the CHR Central
Visayas office that Colita had been threatening her. Colita, according to the police,
killed himself while being questioned about the complainant's passing.

In the security forces, especially in the PNP, impunity was a serious issue. Human
rights organizations kept raising concerns about abuses carried out by the national
police and other security forces and highlighted little development in measures
meant to enhance inquiries into and prosecutions of alleged human rights crimes.
According to the AFP's Center for Law of Armed Conflict, from January to October,
no military personnel were being looked into for alleged extrajudicial executions,
forced disappearances, or other rights violations.

The CHR insisted, however, that the Manila police clearly violated human rights
standards, as well as the PNP mandate to "serve and protect," and described the
decision as a setback in the efforts to stop the violations. In April, the Office of the
Ombudsman cleared officers from the Manila Police District's Raxabago Station 1 of
involvement in a 2017 incident in which 12 individuals were found detained in a
secret cell hidden behind a bookshelf.

Human rights organizations continued to raise concern about the role that corruption
played in abuses carried out by the PNP and other security forces and observed that
there had been little progress in putting reforms into place and enforcing them.

Institutional shortcomings in the national police persisted, and the public continued to
believe that there was widespread corruption in the force. Internal Affairs Service of
the PNP continued to be largely ineffectual. However, the PNP said that between
March and August, 166 individuals were subject to disciplinary punishments as a
result of its internal cleansing campaign; out of the 166, 75 were discharged from
service, 48 were punished with a rank degradation, and 43 were suspended.

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The former mayor of Albuera, Leyte, Roland Espinosa was killed in 2016 while under
police custody. Nineteen police personnel, including Police Superintendent Marvin
Marcos, were accused of being complicit in the crime but were cleared in October by
the Quezon City Regional Trial Court. The judgment was harshly attacked by the
media and other observers as being unfair and crooked. After President Duterte and
numerous other government, police, and judiciary officials labeled Espinosa as a
drug criminal, the 19 cops were accused of killing him in his cell. 15 months after the
slaying of Espinosa, Marcos—the former leader of the PNP's Criminal Investigation
and Detection Group Region 8—was elevated to the position of leader of the 12th
Region group.

PNP head Eleazar directed the Directorate for Staff and Records Management to
construct a database of officers removed from service and that all appeals filed by
dismissed personnel be promptly addressed in August in an effort to prevent rehiring
of fired employees. The PNP's Counter-Intelligence Task Force kept an eye on
police officers who might be engaging in criminal activity.

The national police have been reformed and made more professional through
enhanced training, greater community involvement, and pay raises. All PNP career
courses featured modules on human rights, and the police Human Rights Affairs
Office regularly held training sessions on the duties of policing in that area across the
country. Numerous NGOs recommended that national police training programs
include a monitoring system to assess how well each lesson was received.

The military regularly gave its members human rights training, which was
supplemented by instruction from the CHR. Basic training must be successfully
completed in order to be inducted, promoted, reassigned, and selected for
possibilities to attend school abroad. Internal human rights training was carried out
from general headquarters down to battalion units, comprising hundreds of training
exercises annually, according to the AFP's Center for Law of Armed Conflict. Various
military service units collaborated with the CHR, the International Committee of the
Red Cross, and other NGOs to hold training sessions, seminars, or workshops about
human rights from January to August.

The CHR and other agencies are consulted through background checks when the
Congressional Commission on Appointments assesses whether senior military
personnel chosen for advancement have a history of human rights breaches. If the
congressional commission finds a history of abuses, it may permanently withhold a
promotion. However, transgressions do not bar promotion.

It was frequently impossible for abuse witnesses to get protection. The CHR ran a
modest witness protection program that was overrun by people who had witnessed
drug war atrocities. In other situations, the inability of a witness to testify was also
hampered by the loss of family income brought on by a family member's relocation.
In incidents of police misconduct or abuse, the Office of the Ombudsman also noted
that witnesses frequently declined to speak up or cooperate. This issue occasionally

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resulted from pressure placed on witnesses and their families or came about as a
result of an expectation of payment for their cooperation.

As of September, the government was still looking into two reports of child rape
involving Philippine forces in Liberia in 2017 and Haiti in 2020, according to the
Conduct in UN Field Missions online portal.

Prison and Detention Center Conditions

Gross overcrowding, poor sanitation, physical abuse, and a persistent shortage of

resources, such as food and medical treatment, were among the harsh and
frequently life-threatening prison conditions.

NGOs said that abuse by prison staff and other inmates was prevalent, but they
claimed that most detainees generally chose not to file official complaints out of fear
of retaliation.

In most prisons, gang activity was prevalent. According to domestic and international
media accounts, gangs effectively acted as the de facto providers of discipline and
many services due to insufficient staffing levels. There was frequently violence
between gangs and between specific gang members.

Physical Conditions: For those serving sentences of more than three years in jail, the
Bureau of Corrections, a division of the Department of Justice, oversaw seven
prisons and penal farms countrywide. 48,337 convicts were housed in Bureau of
Corrections facilities, which were functioning at four times their 11,981 operational
capacity.

Under the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the PNP, 470 city,
district, municipal, and provincial jails housing pretrial detainees, those awaiting a
ruling on their cases, and criminal defendants serving sentences of three years or
less were under the control of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
According to the CBI, as of July, its jails were operating 397 percent above their
designated capacity. With an official capacity of 53 inmates but 1,191 detainees as
of July, the men's jail in Dasmarinas City in the province of Cavite was one of the
busiest in the nation. The Commission on Audit's annual report for 2020, which was
published in September, noted that the justice system's biggest issue for 2020 was
jail congestion and listed the two most overcrowded Bureau of Jail Management and
Penology (BJMP) detention facilities as being in Metro Manila (921 percent over
capacity) and the Zamboanga Peninsula (745 percent). The audit commission
highlighted that although there were fewer people in jail overall between 2018 and
2019, the congestion rate only reduced by 1%, which may have been caused by the
temporary closure of several detention facilities across the country for renovation or
redevelopment.

Inmates experienced health and sanitation issues as a result of ongoing congestion.

The COVID-19 virus continues to spread among prisoners as a result of

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overcrowding in jails and detention centers. The Bureau of Corrections reported 32
confirmed and suspected COVID-19-related inmate deaths from January through
July, compared to 20 COVID-19-related deaths reported by the BJMP. For those
who were incarcerated in Bureau of Corrections and BJMP institutions, COVID-19
immunizations were made available.

The rules requiring the segregation of male and female convicts and the use of
guards of the same sex to watch over them in national jails were not consistently
enforced by prison authorities. Authorities did not completely separate minors and
adults in some facilities. The prison services reported a lack of escort and custodial
employees, particularly in major facilities, with an average of about 55 inmates being
allocated to each custodial staff member nationwide. The ratio was higher in larger
prisons; at the New Bilibid Prison, one guard was in charge of 135 inmates.

There weren't many opportunities for prisoners to learn, have fun, or better
themselves.

In detention and penal facilities, there were persistent issues with poor sanitation,
insufficient ventilation, limited access to natural lighting, and a shortage of potable
water, all of which contributed to health issues. The prison services recorded a total
of 1,045 inmate deaths from January through July. Due to COVID-19, various high-
profile detainees reportedly passed away, most notably two witnesses against
Senator Leila de Lima (see section 1.e., Political Prisoners and Detainees).

The majority of deaths, according to prison officials, were caused by disease.

Although some medical services and treatments were unavailable, authorities
provided medical care to Bureau of Corrections convicts. In these situations, officials
referred detainees to a hospital outside of prison. A daily medication allowance of 15
pesos ($0.30) was given to prisoners.

Children under the age of 18 were frequently released by court order, after the Public
Attorney's Office, the inmate's private attorney, or as a result of appeals led by
NGO's. Juveniles made up less than 1% of the prison population as of July.

Minors are not held criminally liable under the law. Minors were frequently used by
drug cartels as couriers, traffickers, cultivators, or as drug den staff. Rescued
children are placed in the Department of Social Welfare and Development's care
(social welfare department). Police stations employed juvenile relations workers to
try and make sure that adults treated minor suspects properly, but sometimes they
disregarded legal requirements and the surroundings weren't kid-friendly. The social
welfare department is required by law to offer these kids housing, medical care, and
rehabilitative assistance. According to the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council, a
department of justice-supervised organization, some of the centers' rehabilitation
facilities (known as Bahay Pag-asa or Houses of Hope) had worse conditions than
jails. In the nation, there were 85 Bahay Pag-asa centers, 82 of which were
managed by local governments and three by NGOs. These children and other at-risk

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youngsters received protection, care, training, and rehabilitation from youth facilities
that were founded and run by a number of municipal governments.

Administration: Complaints may be made to legally recognized independent

government agencies by prisoners, their relatives, and attorneys. The CHR sent
complaints it received to the proper agency.

Since March 2020, prison visits have been suspended owing to the COVID-19
pandemic. Prior to this, however, guests were typically permitted to see inmates and
detainees, while local NGOs said that occasionally authorities barred family visits for
particular detainees suspected of offenses related to the conflict. Officials at the
prison noted that security issues and space constraints occasionally also limited
visitors' access to the prisoners.

While Muslim detainees were allowed to practice their religion, according to Muslim
officials, Roman Catholic mass was frequently broadcast over loudspeakers to both
Roman Catholic and non-Roman Catholic prisoners and detainees.

Independent Monitoring: The authorities gave unfettered and timely access to jails
and prisons to international monitoring organizations like the International Committee
of the Red Cross and other civil society organizations like the Philippine Center for
Investigative Journalism. In order to check on the government's adherence to its
commitments under international treaties, the CHR is authorized by the constitution
to go to jails, prisons, or other detention institutions. Although there were additional
pandemic-related guidelines and regulations mandated by jail management, such as
wearing personal protective equipment and showing a negative RT-PCR COVID-19
test, the commission continued its jail visitation program throughout the year. Virtual
jail visits were permitted in some jails located in areas subject to specified
community quarantine classifications.

Arbitrary Arrest or Detention

The government and its agents regularly disregarded these conditions, despite the
fact that the constitution forbids arbitrary arrest and detention and gives people the
right to contest the legality of their arrest or incarceration in court. As of August, there
had been no reports of arbitrary imprisonment carried out by law enforcement or the
military services. The Office of the Ombudsman is an impartial body tasked with
looking into and punishing allegations of public abuse and misconduct.

Arrest Procedures and Treatment of Detainees

Unless the suspect is seen trying to commit, committing, or just after committing an
offense; there is probable cause based on personal knowledge that the suspect just
committed an offense; or the suspect is an escaped prisoner, warrants based on
sufficient evidence and issued by an authorized official are required for an arrest.
The court subpoenas the suspect in order to conduct a preliminary investigation
when one of the aforementioned conditions is satisfied and an arrest occurs without

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a warrant. Depending on the gravity of the act, authorities must file charges within 12
to 36 hours of making an unwarranted arrest. The statute authorizes warrantless
detention without charges for up to 24 days in terrorism cases.

Except while being imprisoned for crimes carrying a death sentence or a life term,
detainees have the opportunity to post bail. In general, the bail system worked as
intended, and accused had the right to challenge a judge's decision to reject release.
According to the law, anybody who is being held or accused has the right to pick
their own attorney or, if they are unable to pay for one, to have the state give one.
But access to public defenders for the poor was restricted by the Public Attorney's
Office's lack of resources.

Arbitrary Arrest: Security forces continued to arbitrarily arrest people, including

minors, without a warrant and for reasons other than terrorism, particularly in areas
of armed conflict.

As of August, there had been no reports of arbitrary imprisonment carried out by law
enforcement or the military services. The Office of the Ombudsman is an impartial
body tasked with looking into and punishing allegations of public abuse and
misconduct. However, there were many verifiable claims of arbitrary detentions and
arrests by security personnel. The illegal detention of seven union leaders was
reported by the NGO Center for Trade Union and Human Rights between January
and July.

The center reported in March that the PNP and its Criminal Investigation and
Detection Group illegally detained Joseph Canlas, the leader of the farmers'
organization Alyansa ng Magbubukid ng Gitnang (Central) Luzon, following a raid in
Central Luzon for alleged possession of explosives and firearms. Canlas, who
passed away from COVID-19 in a detention cell in May, had previously been "red-
tagged" for allegedly recruiting NPA members. Red-tagging is the act of labeling,
branding, naming, and accusing people or organizations of being left-leaning,
subversives, communists, or terrorists. It is used as a strategy by state agents
against people perceived to be "threats" or "enemies of the State."

In November 2020, a group calling themselves the Movement Against Terrorism red-
tagged Renalyn Tejero, an ethnic Lumad (an indigenous community in Mindanao)
activist and paralegal officer with the Karapatan. Tejero was detained by authorities
on March 21 on suspicion of murder and an attempted murder. Activist groups
emphasized that Tejero was singled out for false accusations because of her
connection to the Karapatan organization, a nongovernmental organization that
defends human rights.

Following complaints from numerous human rights organizations about abuse, mass
arrests, and the murder of activists, the Supreme Court prohibited the Manila and
Quezon City courts from approving search warrants in other localities in July. These
organizations referred to these warrants as "death warrants" and claimed they were
to blame for the nine fatalities in the "Bloody Sunday" killings on March 7.

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From January through August, the CHR looked into 40 alleged illegal detention
cases involving 62 victims, of which 33 were committed by the PNP, one by the AFP,
three by local government employees, and three by unidentified individuals.

Pretrial Custody: Prolonged pretrial detention is still a problem, partly because the
legal system is slow and ineffective. The majority of inmates housed in BJMP
facilities—98%—were awaiting trial, and the remaining 2% were convicted felons
serving sentences of less than three years. Some courts were substantially
overwhelmed as a result of the uneven distribution of pending cases across the
courts. Paralegals were engaged by large jails to keep an eye on convicts' cases,
prevent incarceration past the maximum sentence, and help with decongestion. The
BJMP assisted in court case expediting to encourage prompt resolution of detainees'
cases. From January through July, authorities were able to release 39,112 prisoners
from BJMP facilities thanks to this scheme. However, pretrial confinement that
exceeded the maximum sentence was frequent and frequently lasted for several
years.

Denial of Fair Public Trial

Although the government largely upheld judicial independence, pressure, threats,

and intimidation against the court from numerous sources were recorded by NGOs.
The legislation guarantees an independent judiciary. The attacks on attorneys by the
Duterte government were denounced in July by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.
In the year leading up to July, six lawyers were assassinated; there have been few
indictments for these slayings.

The Calbayog Regional Trial Court was asked to furnish the police in Calbayog City,
Samar Province, with a list of attorneys who represent people connected to the
communist party, according to media reports from March. The request caused
human rights organizations like the National Union of People's Lawyers to express
concern that, if granted, it would encourage attacks on human rights attorneys.

Bribery, nepotism, and other forms of corruption persisted in giving powerful or rich
perpetrators a relative sense of impunity. The judicial system was also hampered by
a lack of staff, ineffective procedures, and protracted procedural delays. These
elements played a part in the general doubt that the criminal justice system provided
fair trials and equal justice.

As witnesses and court time became available, trials were held as a series of
separate sessions, frequently months apart, which contributed to protracted delays.
There was a clear demand for more judges, prosecutors, and courtrooms. About
one-third of the allowed bench slots (563 posts) were vacant as of June 2020.
Because candidates for sharia court seats must be members of both the Integrated
Bar and the Sharia Bar, it has continued to be extremely challenging to fill these
positions. The 56 district and circuit sharia courts that have been approved lack

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criminal jurisdiction. Prosecutors in sharia courts received brief and deemed
insufficient training.

Trial Procedures

The right to a prompt, fair, and open trial is guaranteed under the constitution. Trials
were largely open to the public but often delayed, and judicial independence was
frequently questioned. The law guarantees rights to counsel, sufficient time to
prepare a defense, and a swift and open trial before a court. It also mandates that all
those accused of crimes be told of the charges against them. Without the presence
of a defense attorney, no criminal case against a defendant can move further.
Defendants are assumed to be innocent under the law. They are free to question
witnesses who are testifying against them, attend their trials, provide evidence in
their favor, challenge verdicts, and are not required to testify or admit guilt. If
required, the court may appoint a free interpreter. A party may object to the
interpretation if the court's interpreter commits grave errors. With the exception of the
right to a speedy trial, the government typically complied with these demands.

Trials essentially had no time restrictions, despite the legislation requiring that
matters be handled within three months to two years, depending on the court.
According to government officials, it often took five to six years to receive a ruling.

The right of a defendant to legal representation was acknowledged by the

authorities, although access to competent legal representation was frequently
hampered by poverty. The Public Attorney's Office, which answers to the
Department of Justice, lacked the resources required to carry out its constitutionally
mandated representation of destitute defendants during arraignments or pretrial
hearings. As a result, it chose to represent them at trial. Any lawyer present in the
courtroom may be appointed by the court to represent the accused immediately
during pretrial hearings.

Judiciary decisions occasionally seemed arbitrary, and sentencing decisions weren't

always in line with the law.

Political Detainees and Prisoners

Political prisoners are people who may be charged with any offence against national
security, according to the law, according to the government. According to this
criteria, as of August, the Bureau of Corrections has 146 political detainees. In
Davao, which alone housed the majority of political prisoners, this includes those in
maximum-, medium-, and low-security prisons as well as convicts who self-identified
as political. The BJMP exclusively classifies detainees based on security risk and
does not keep track of political prisoners.

Several human rights NGOs kept records of people who were detained and who they
believed to be political prisoners. The Task Force Detainees of the Philippines
monitored what it classified as political prisoners and detainees, the majority of

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whom were in pretrial incarceration, based on motivation but excluding people guilty
of or charged with crimes against persons or property. The task group identified 294
political detainees and 76 political prisoners between January and July. The task
group stated that, with the exception of the New Bilibid Prison, where the majority of
political detainees were housed in maximum-security facilities, authorities typically
mingled political prisoners with the general inmate population.

On a charge of drug trafficking conspiracy, opposition senator Leila de Lima was still
being held by the police four years after her arrest. To postpone arraignment,
prosecutors employed a number of legal strategies, including the filing of fresh
charges and the amendment of older ones. One of her accusers, Vicente Sy, a
convicted drug kingpin, passed away in prison in August, supposedly from COVID-
19. De Lima's team did point out, however, that Sy later recanted his earlier evidence
and claimed he had never met or given money to de Lima when he appeared in
court in 2020. De Lima was then charged with contempt of court after making public
comments regarding the case, according to the prosecution. Authorities stated that
prison gang leader Jaybee Sebastian, a de Lima accuser, passed away from
COVID-19 in July 2020. After she started Senate hearings investigating fatalities
associated with the drug war in 2016, De Lima's case got underway. Prior to the start
of the COVID-19 epidemic, de Lima had access to the media and certain visitors
despite being incarcerated. Her case received a lot of national and international
attention, and many observers criticized the accusations as being politically driven.

International humanitarian organizations were given regular access to political

prisoners by the government.

Civil Judicial Techniques and Recourse

In civil cases, the judiciary is generally viewed as autonomous. In order to get civil
compensation for or an end to violations of human rights, complainants may do so in
local trial courts. For civil grievances, there are both administrative and legal
remedies, albeit overworked municipal courts frequently dismissed these claims. No
regional human rights courts could hear the nation's appeal. The same inefficiencies
and bribery exist in civil matters as in criminal ones.

Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or

Correspondence by Arbitrary or Unlawful Means

Although leaders of communist, socialist, and rural-based NGOs complained of

routine surveillance and harassment, the government largely protected residents'
privacy. Even though there were typically limitations on searches and seizures inside
of private residences, searches without warrants persisted. In general, judges ruled
that illegally obtained evidence was inadmissible.

Abuses Related to Conflicts

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The nation has battled armed Muslim separatist movements for decades, including
the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front; a
communist insurgency supported by a strong NPA presence throughout the country;
and violence by smaller transnational terrorist organizations, including ISIS-East
Asia, the Abu Sayyaf Group, Maute Group, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters
(hereinafter Bangsamoro Front), and other terrorist groups and criminal syn Violence
from interclan rido (feuds) continued in Mindanao, killing and displacing civilians.
Government organizations helped persons displaced by internal violence, frequently
with assistance from UN organizations and other outside donors.

Killings: There were often fatalities on both sides of armed confrontations between
the government and insurgent, separatist, and terrorist forces. For instance, security
personnel and NPA members engaged in combat on August 20. One soldier and two
rebels perished. A poet, activist, and former managing editor of the University of the
Philippines' official student newspaper, Kerima Tariman was one of the rebels slain.
In another incident, two unarmed members of the Civilian Armed Force Geographical
Unit Active Auxiliary were killed by NPA rebels on August 26 in San Isidro, Northern
Samar. The two were traveling to a military Community Support Program
engagement where they would be working with locals on development issues.

The assassination of activists has occasionally been connected by NGOs to

counterinsurgency operations carried out by government security agencies,
particularly the military. In 2020, there were 25 documented killings of human rights
advocates, 21 of them were advocates for the rights of the environment, the land,
and indigenous peoples.

The NPA, ISIS-East Asia, Abu Sayaf Group, Maute Group, Ansar al-Khalifa,
Bangsamoro Front, and other violent extremist groups killed political figures and
other civilians, including people thought to be military and police informers, using
roadside bombs, ambushes, suicide bombings, and other methods. On September
18, an improvised bomb went off in a town plaza in Datu Piang, Maguindanao,
allegedly by terrorists from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, injuring eight
people. Victor Samama, the mayor of Datu Piang, informed the media that he
believed the Bangsamoro Front attackers who assaulted the town in December 2020
and set a police car on fire while firing at the police station were responsible for the
blast.

Abduction: Armed criminal and terrorist organizations have abducted citizens and
held them for ransom. Kidnappings were also carried out by the NPA and a few
separatist organizations. According to reports, authorities helped organize ransom
payments through illegitimate methods on behalf of the employers and families of the
victims. The security personnel occasionally made an effort to save victims. Four
civilians were held hostage by terrorist groups in three separate incidents between
January and August, according to the AFP's Center for Law of Armed Conflict, two of
which were prosecuted in court. The Abu Sayaf Group abducted three Indonesian
fisherman and transported them to the province of Sulu. When their boat capsized as

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they fled a government rescue mission, the PNP saved the victims and captured one
of the captors.

Physical Abuse, Punishment, and Torture: Abuse of terrorists, separatists, and

insurgents in custody has been reported by leftist and human rights groups. The
former NPA leader Antonio Cabanatan and his wife Florenda Yap were kidnapped in
Oton town, Iloilo Province, in December 2020—the 52nd anniversary of the NPA's
founding—and the Communist Party of the Philippines accused state troops of
torturing and killing them. Cabanatan and Jose Maria Sison, the founder of the
Communist Party of the Philippines, were the last two names on a Department of
Justice list that originally included 600 names but was ultimately reduced to just two.
On the original list of 600 activists, activists Randy Malayao, Randy Echanis, and
Zara Alvarez were all murdered in 2019–20.

According to numerous sources, in order to enforce the collection of extortion

payments, or so-called revolutionary taxes, the NPA attacked or threatened
businesses, power plants, farms, and private communication facilities in addition to
trying to intimidate government officials.

Child Soldiers: The use of children as soldiers, notably by terrorist and

antigovernment groups, continued to be an issue, particularly in some areas of
Mindanao where low-intensity conflict was present. Seven child soldiers were
rescued from armed antigovernment groups by the Women and Children Protection
Center of the national police in the year leading up to July. Ten minors were
deployed as fighters by communist terrorist organizations between January and
June, according to the AFP's Center for Law of Armed Conflict. There was no proof
that government organizations used or recruited children as troops. Twelve children
were recruited and used by armed organizations during the year, including Abu
Sayyaf, the Bangsamoro Front, and the NPA, according to the UN Office of the
Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children in Armed Conflict. The
employment of children as combatants in violent situations as well as their release
were under the watchful eye of UNICEF. It was challenging to determine the scope
of the issue since government reporting processes on child soldiers produced
contradictory data across agencies and regions, particularly in areas affected by
conflicts. The NPA acknowledged that it did recruit, train, and employ children for
non-combat activities, such as cooking, despite continuing to insist that it did not
recruit them as warriors.

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