Month: February 2020

“I can promise you a comfortable life under me. Nakakakain, walang masyadong krimen (not a lot of crime), and drugs—I will suppress it.”

Two days before the presidential elections in 2016, candidate Rodrigo Duterte issued one last campaign promise before his supporters: A comfortable life for Filipinos.

A quick review of the Philippine economic numbers hints that he may be on the way to fulfilling that promise. The administration reported a 6.4 percent year- on-year growth in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) during the fourth quarter of 2019. Inflation eased to 0.8 percent in October 2019 compared to the 6.7 all-time high rate recorded in 2018. Year-on-year, Philippine inflation in 2019 settled at 2.5 percent from 5.1 percent in 2018.

In December, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) also released the government’s official poverty figures for 2018. It estimated poverty incidence among the population at 16.6 percent or 17.6 million Filipinos for 2018. PSA defines poverty incidence as the proportion of poor Filipinos whose per capita income is not sufficient to meet their basic food and non-food needs. The poverty threshold in 2018 is estimated at ₱10,727 on average, for a family of five per month.

Meanwhile, subsistence incidence—the proportion of Filipinos whose income is not enough to meet basic food needs—was rated at 5.2 percent in 2018. The monthly food threshold in 2018 is estimated at ₱7,528 on average, for a family of five per month. PSA compared these results to 2015 numbers, where poverty incidence was at 23.3 percent and subsidence incidence was at 9.1 percent.

Poverty and hunger figures from Social Weather Stations’ (SWS) quarterly Social Weather Surveys in 2019 also paint a generally positive picture. Although self-rated poverty increased in the fourth quarter to a five-year high at 54 percent, or 13.1 million families, 2019’s average self-rated poverty is at 45 percent, still a decrease from the 48 percent recorded in 2018. Self-rated poverty represents the proportion of respondents who rated their family as poor.

The hunger rate in the fourth quarter of 2019 was pegged at 8.8 percent, or 2.1 million families. The annual average hunger rate is 9.3 percent against the 10.8 percent recorded in 2018. The hunger rate represents families who reported experiencing involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months.

The latest employment figures, courtesy of PSA’s preliminary results of the Annual Labor and Employment Estimates for 2019, also suggest improvements. The unemployment rate estimate for 2019 is at 5.1 percent, a small improvement from the 5.3 percent recorded in 2018. Underemployment estimates in 2019 is at 14 percent, declining from 16.4 percent in 2018.

PSA classifies employed persons as belonging to any of these four classes: wage and salary workers; self-employed workers without any paid employee; employers in their own family-operated farm or business; and unpaid family workers. Underemployed persons are defined as those who express the desire to have additional work hours in their present job, or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours.

The (Un)Truth in Numbers

Taken at face value, these numbers offer hope that progress is happening. However, there are serious questions about whether these postive numbers translate to better opportunities and better lives for Filipinos.

The economic boom, as it were, only worsens inequality in the country as it benefits mostly corporations and oligarchs. As research group IBON pointed out, wages of workers continue to fall in 2019 despite improved labor productivity.

The daily minimum wage rates in the country remain disappointing, going as low as ₱282 in Region I to a high of ₱537 in the National Capital Region. Research by Portugal-based e-commerce site Picodi described the Philippines as one of the worst ountries in the world to live in for minimum wage earners. Picodi’s report compared the prices of basic food needs of an adult against the minimum net wages of 54 countries and found that basic food costs amount to 62.3 percent of the minimum net wage in the Philippines. This places the Philippines at 51 among 54 countries reviewed for the report.

A booming economy is also expected to create more and better jobs for Filipinos. However, the country’s economic growth appears to be a jobless one. This idea was echoed in economist JC Punongbayan’s analysis of the country’s economic growth under Pres. Duterte. Punongbayan revealed that only 81,000 jobs were created each year between 2016–2018—way below the annual average jobs created in previous administrations, which are around 500,000 to 800,000.

The government’s declining unemployment figures also remain in question, as it continues to use a 2005 redefinition of unemployment which excludes persons who are“actively seeking work or not seeking work within the last six months upon survey.” This redefinition essentially “stops counting millions of discouraged jobless Filipino workers,” according to IBON.

Indeed, IBON’s own estimate of unemployed Filipinos in October 2019 is at four million, double the government’s two million figure. The group also adds that the few new jobs created were “temporary and poor-quality.”

Anti-Poor Dutertenomics

The Duterte administration’s economic policies and reforms supposedly aimed to improve the lives of Filipinos also appeared to have caused the opposite effect.

For instance, the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law, signed in February 2019, has allowed for the almost unlimited importation of rice. As a consequence, farmgate prices of palay have drastically dropped, hurting the livelihood of local rice farmers. Rice farmers reportedly now sell their produce for as low as ₱17 per kilo, as compared to 2018’s ₱22 per kilo. In provinces like Nueva Ecija, farmgate prices are as low as ₱7 to ₱8 per kilo despite production costs being around ₱12 per kilo. Moreover, the drastic drop in farmgate prices does not

translate to lower market prices of rice, meaning that consumers are still affected by high rice prices.

Just like rice farmers, coconut farmers are also hurting from the very low farmgate price of coconut. A Mindanao Times report depicted the downtrend in the buying price of coconut where an already low ₱8 to ₱9 per kilo price level in 2018 plummeted to ₱3.50 in 2019.

The president’s vetoing of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Bill and the Philippine Coconut Authority Bill did not make the situation any better for local coconut farmers. These bills were intended to commence the long-delayed distribution of coco levy funds and could have helped ease the burden for the country’s coconut farmers.

Moreover, the deadly anti-drug policy of the government also pushed thousands of families into deeper poverty. Beyond the thousands of deaths, Duterte’s so-called war on drugs has led to multidimensional impacts on the lives of the families of the victims.

PhilRights’ 2019 monitoring and docu- mentation report on extrajudicial killings (EJK) showed that the administration’s so-called drug war does not only violate the civil and political rights (CPR) of the families, but also their economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR).

The Duterte administration’s approach to ensuring a safe and comfortable life for Filipinos, predicated on a peace and order agenda, instead surfaced a lot of negative consequences for victims of human rights violations: families experienced deteriorating physical and psychological health conditions; children were forced to quit school; and livelihoods were affected, aggravating the food insecurity the families were already experiencing.

Infrastructure development, a priority area for the Duterte administration through its centerpiece program dubbed ‘Build! Build! Build!’, remains beset in controversy.

The New Centennial Water Supply- Kaliwa Dam Project (NCWS-KPD), meant to address the water supply problem in Metro Manila, has been marked with irregularities. The project received flak from indigenous communities, environmental groups, and other concerned civil society organizations because it will displace thousands of indigenous peoples from their ancestral domains—causing the loss of livelihood sources and other basic needs such as food and medicine. Even with the promise of safeguards, indigenous communities also fear the destruction of their sacred lands.

It has become increasingly clear that this administration’s approach to economic development has a blinkered view of the relationship between socioeconomic progress and human rights.

The project also has yet to secure Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) from the indigenous communities in the area. This has not stopped the project to commence, which is a clear violation under the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA). Reports show that half of the access roads to the dam were already built and military were deployed in the area.

Another point against the project is the irreversible damage it will bring to the rich biodiversity of the Sierra Madre mountains. This sparked questions on how the project was granted an Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) given the destruction it poses to the environment.

In the president’s mid-term report, he vowed to “ensure that [the tribes’] cultural heritage, rights, and norms are respected and carefully considered.” With the way the project has been railroaded towards implementation, there are serious doubts about the sincerity of these words.

The midpoint of a president’s term is an opportune time to take stock of what has or hasn’t been accomplished. In 2019, the Duterte administration’s socioeconomic policies and programs have achieved very little in terms of genuine improvement in the lives of Filipinos. Despite early promises and a boisterous anti-elite persona, Pres. Duterte has shown himself just as beholden, if not more so, than his predecessors to the interests of the already powerful.

Indeed, it has become increasingly clear that this administration’s approach to economic development has a blinkered view of the relationship between socioeconomic progress and human rights—one that disregards the rights of many for the benefit of a few.

Content

PART 1 Kill Policies: Testing the Extremes of Violence and Impunity   1

PART 2 A Comfortable Life? Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Remain Compromised   10

PART 3 A Chilling Effect: Violence Consumes Civic Spaces in the Philippines   18

PART 4 The Killing State: A Legacy of Violence   28

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Preface

Halfway through the Duterte regime, the human rights situation in the Philippines continued its descent to violence, fear, and impunity.

In 2019, three years into President Rodrigo Duterte’s rule, the strongman’s impulse for violence manifested itself through even more harmful and lethal means. The continuation of the so-called war on drugs, the escalation of attacks against human rights defenders, activists, and the media, and the disregard for social and economic justice has festered into a full-blown human rights crisis.

This report, a product of a yearlong effort to monitor and analyze developments impacting the human rights and dignity of Filipinos, is an opportunity to confront our country’s worsening reality— one where an autocratic regime so boldly circumvents the State’s obligations to the dignity and well-being of its people.

Beyond chronicling the contours and dimensions of this crisis, we aspire for action. We believe that our people, guided by the ideals and principles of human rights and democratic rule, can seize this country from the clutches of authoritarianism and work towards a society where their innate dignity as human beings is valued.

Prof. Nymia Pimentel-Simbulan, Dr. PH 
Executive Director

On the truth of the local police claim that Myka’s father used her as a human shield, PNP spokesperson Colonel Bernard Banac was careful: “We are not accepting it yet. That is the initial report submitted by the operatives and we are looking also into the other statements of witnesses and the family.”

Meanwhile, former police chief and neophyte senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa could not be bothered: “Sabi ko nga (As I said) imperfect world…Shit happens.”

That a three-year-old’s death can be reduced to these words by the same man who was the lead enforcer of the so-called war on drugs is not any less upsetting given its predictability. Equally upsetting is that the same man was elected by 19 million Filipinos in May 2019 and then assumed leadership of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, the very committee that could hold investigations on irregularities of the so- called drug war. Walking back on his words, the senator later clarified that the comment was not intended for the general public, but only for the police community.

What is clear is that Sen. dela Rosa remains unwilling to admit State accountability for how the campaign he led has triggered large- scale human rights violations. Indeed, Myka’s death is but one among thousands since the start of the campaign on July 1, 2016. Three years on, government numbers have pegged the killings at 5,552 “drug personalities” as of November 30, 2019. The latest numbers also report total arrests at 220,728, including 8,185 so-called high-value targets.

These numbers tell one story, one that is markedly different from those reported by human rights organizations documenting and monitoring the so-called drug war. But as Carlos Conde, Philippines researcher for Human Rights Watch, pointed out, this isn’t solely a debate about numbers, it is about demanding accountability.

That these official numbers have gone up and down depending on PNP’s arbitrary categorization is a further reminder that transparency and honesty is not a government priority. What this amounts to is a direct evasion of accountability and a deliberate demonstration of impunity by State forces.

These numbers also create a chilling effect as a culture of fear and silence envelops communities in the country.

This isn’t solely a debate about numbers, it is about demanding accountability.

Multidimensional Impacts of the So-called War on Drugs

Our September 2019 report concluded that alleged extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations in the context of the so-called war on drugs have multi-dimensional impacts not only on the victims, but also on their families and communities left behind. The State’s violations of the basic rights of Filipinos are interrelated in their impacts, like dominoes falling one after another.

Crucially, the violations emanating from the first violation—an extrajudicial killing, for instance—are sequential in nature. As we determined in our documentation, an extrajudicial killing of a family member exposes the family left behind to other violations of their civil and political rights (CPR) and economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR). During and after the deaths of the victims, various forms of assaults on the rights of the families left behind are still experienced. PhilRights documented four cases of alleged illegal arrest and arbitrary detention of family members after the victim was killed and 11 cases of alleged harassment of families during and after the killing. Many families have reported cases of missing or destroyed properties after the incidents.

In Navotas and other urban poor communities, the police are still conducting rounds of arrests, house-to-house profiling, and area patrols, instilling fear among residents.

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Hindi na namin nararamdaman na may seguridad pa kami. Hanggang ngayon, kapag may pumasok na pulis sa lugar namin, inaatake ng nerbiyos ang mga magulang ko kasi natatakot sila na baka may patayin na naman

(We no longer feel secure. Until now, whenever there are police officers entering our community, my parents get so nervous, fearing that someone else will get killed), says Elsa*, a resident of Navotas.

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*Not her real name

Assaults on Human Rights Defenders

These patterns of violence and abuse of State power are also present in the intensifying crackdown against human rights defenders, activists, and journalists in the country. The justification of the police on the brutality and violence in their operations and the attacks and threats of the State to progressive individuals and organizations who condemn their anti-poor policies often fall under the tired nanlaban narrative. And this justification, brutal in its finality, has sown fear among civil society organizations, progressive groups, media workers, and citizens who wish to claim their rights and raise questions against State policies.

In November, 57 individuals including 15 minors were arrested in simultaneous operations in Bacolod City and Escalante City in the island of Negros. Among those arrested, 44 were charged with illegal possession of firearms, explosives, and were accused of being members of the New People’s Army.

State forces also raided the offices of progressive groups including Gabriela, Bayan, and the National Federation of Sugar Workers. Even the homes of some progressive individuals were not spared; the residences of Gabriela–Manila Spokesperson Cora Agovida and Bayan Muna Regional Coordinator Romulo Bito-on were also raided.

These incidents have been attributed by progressive groups as the direct consequences of Memorandum Order No. 32, which was then followed by Executive Order No. 70, both signed by Pres. Duterte, resulting in the deployment of more military and police forces to intimidate, control, and curtail the movements of progressive individuals and groups in the country.

Attacks on the media have continued. The State of Media Freedom in the Philippines, drafted by the Freedom for Media, Freedom for All Network reported in December that there have been 154 cases of threats and attacks against the press since 2016. In 69 of these cases, State agents were the known or alleged perpetrators. The report also highlighted the escalating attacks on the media in the last six months of 2019, which included the red-tagging of journalists and media organizations and “public broadsides and attacks” by Pres. Duterte and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. against the media.

Anti-Human Rights Policies

On his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July, Pres. Duterte yet again urged Congress to reimpose the death penalty. Premised both as deterrent and hardline punishment for heinous crimes, the insistence to bring back the death penalty not only goes against a worldwide shift away from capital punishment, but also deliberately ignores the country’s obligations to international human rights law as a State party to the Second Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

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