Phl Added To “Human Rights Watchlist”

June 29, 2020 JUST IN

BAGUIO CITY (June 29, 2020) – The Philippines was added to the new human rights watchlist due to “clampdown on the media as new anti-terrorism bill puts activists at risk,” it said.
The new watchlist is released by the CIVICUS Monitor, an online platform that tracks the latest developments to civic freedoms, such as the freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
The Philippines has been added to a watchlist of countries which have seen a rapid decline in fundamental democratic freedoms in recent months, the group claimed.  “Attacks on press freedom and use of the pandemic to crackdown on dissent has contributed to a narrowing of civic space in the country,” it continued.
It further cited that independent media and journalists are being allegedly targeted for their reporting “while COVID 19 emergency powers and new anti-terrorism bill puts human rights at further risk”.
Worse, CIVICUS Monitor claimed, “the state of civic freedoms in the Philippines is rated as obstructed”.
CIVICUS was also displeased that the Phillippine government declared a state of emergency on March 25, 2020 and granted President Duterte special powers by passing an emergency law as its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.   Among the provisions in the law is one penalizing the spreading of “false information” online which could be used to curtail freedom of speech and silence the media, it said.  “Journalists have since been targeted,” the human rights monitor raised.
CIVICUS also specifically cited that press freedom has also been under attack in recent months with media giant ABS-CBN, “depriving citizens of critical information during the pandemic.,” while also mentioning the conviction of journalist Maria Ressa, found guilty of ‘cyberlibel’, which according to the human rights monitor “has created a chilling effect among journalists.”
“The government is also on the verge of enacting a controversial new Anti-Terrorism Act, which would give law enforcement agencies broad surveillance powers and allow the police to arrest people without a warrant,”  CIVICUS criticized, pointing out “concerns that the law has been designed to target critics of the government, not terrorists.”
***Artemio A. Dumlao***