However, according to the CHR, members of the security forces and police routinely abused and sometimes tortured suspects and detainees. Earlier, President Duterte had spoken about the assassination, sparking public backlash against the anti-drug lawsuit. From January to August, complainants to the Office of the Ombudsman reported 114 cases of alleged involvement of military and law enforcement officials in human rights abuses, including killings, injuries, illegal arrests and torture.
The AFP Human Rights Office monitored and reviewed alleged human rights violations involving members of the military. Human rights groups argued that Sereno's vocal opposition to the war on drugs played a role in the decision.
Respect for Civil Liberties, Including
In 2017, the Office of the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict verified the recruitment and use of 30 children by armed groups, including ASG, BIFF and NPA. Freedom of Expression: Individuals reported being able to criticize the government publicly or privately or discuss matters of general public interest. Broadcast media contacts reported pressure from their boards of directors to report favorably on the government for fear of economic retaliation against their business interests.
The online news company Rappler was the target of significant pressure from the government due to its critical coverage of the government. Journalists and media personalities reported an increase in online threats, including of violence and harassment, in response to articles and comments critical of the government. The government did not restrict or disrupt access to the Internet or censor online content, and there were no credible reports that the government monitored private online communications without appropriate legal authority.
The constitution provides for the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association, and the government has generally respected these rights. There were no reports of the government pressuring or threatening refugees to return to the country they fled. Sometimes the government encouraged IDPs to return home, but they were often reluctant to do so for security or welfare reasons.
Safe Country of Origin/Transit: The government has partnered with UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations to assist refugee transit through the country under a State Department-UNHCR Memorandum of Agreement.
Freedom to Participate in the Political Process
The Ministry of Justice is responsible for determining the statelessness of persons born in the country and newly arrived persons. Under the amended rules, after an applicant files a statelessness claim, deportation or exclusion proceedings against him and his dependents are suspended, and the applicant can be released from detention. Until August, there were no known cases of social discrimination against stateless persons or restrictions on their access to public services.
Since August, under a 2014 initiative to register persons of Indonesian origin at risk of statelessness in Southern Mindanao, the Philippines and Indonesian. The governments of the Philippines and Indonesia jointly reaffirmed the provision of consular assistance to documented and undocumented migrants of Indonesian origin. At the end of the campaign, the Duterte administration released its "narco list," which included names of current local and national government officials allegedly involved in illegal drug activity.
Participation of Women and Minorities: No laws restrict the participation of women or members of minorities in the political process, and they did participate. There were no Muslim or indigenous cabinet members or senators, but there were 15 Muslim members of the House of Representatives, mostly from Muslim backgrounds. The law allows for a party-list system, designed to ensure the representation of marginalized and underrepresented sectors of society, for 20 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives.
Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government
The turnout of these groups did not change significantly compared to the 2016 presidential election or the 2013 midterm elections. Corruption: To fight corruption, the constitution establishes the independent Office of the Ombudsman, an appellate-level anti-corruption court, and the Audit Commission. . All three organizations were under-resourced, but they actively cooperated with the public and civil society and appeared to operate independently and use their limited resources effectively.
The Office of the Ombudsman had filed charges in the Sandiganbayan against a number of individuals involved in the case, including Congressional representatives, NGO officials and individuals. From January to September, the Office of the Ombudsman had won 436 convictions in 578 corruption cases. This was a dramatic increase for both. convictions and court cases compared to the same period in 2017.
A former responsible official and regional executive director of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has been sentenced to six years in prison and disqualified from public office for collecting 2.5 million pesos. 46,800) for the issuance of free patents for public lands in the City of General Santos. A former senior accountant at the Manila International Airport Office was sentenced to nine to 12 years in prison with the finality. The Public Administration Commission implements and enforces the law and forwards non-disclosure cases to the Office of the Ombudsman for.
Legal analysts contested the decision, arguing that failure to submit SALN documents has a one-year statute of limitations and that the court's use of a petition violated Congress' exclusive constitutional role in removing indicted officials.
Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights
Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno's alleged failure to submit all the required SALN documents when she applied for the position in 2012 was the basis for a petition challenging the legality of her tenure. Approximately three-quarters of the country's 42,000 villages had human rights action centers that coordinated with CHR regional offices. The Office of the Ombudsman is an independent agency that responds to complaints about public officials and employees.
Many human rights NGOs believed that the office's affairs improved under the Ombudsman, whose term of office expired in July, although administrative and institutional weaknesses remained. The Regional Human Rights Commission is a constitutionally mandated body charged with monitoring alleged human rights violations in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (Bangsamoro).
Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons Women
Other laws ensure equal access for people with disabilities to all public buildings and institutions. The National Council for Disability Affairs formulated policies and coordinated the activities of the public authorities for the rehabilitation, self-development and self-reliance of persons with disabilities and their integration into the mainstream of society. Advocates for people with disabilities argued that equal access laws were ineffective due to weak implementing regulations, inadequate funding, and insufficiently focused inclusive government programs.
Disabled people continue to face discrimination and other challenges when looking for employment (see chapter 7.d.). The Ministry of Education's 648 separate education centers did not provide nationwide coverage, and the government had no clear system for informing parents of children with special needs about their rights to education and no well-defined process for reporting discrimination. From January to June, the DSWD provided services to 3,374 persons with disabilities in assisted living centers and community-based vocational centers nationwide, significantly more than what was reported in 2017.
If a person with disabilities suffered violence, access to aftercare services was available through the DSWD, crisis centers and NGOs. The Commission on Elections determines the capacity of persons with mental disabilities to vote during the registration process, and citizens can appeal exclusions and inclusions in court. A federal law authorizes the commission to establish accessible voting centers exclusively for persons with disabilities and senior citizens.
The law prohibits discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS, including access to basic health and social services.
Worker Rights
For these reasons, and in part due to organizers' limited access to high-security zones and the tendency of regional institutions to accept fixed-term employment contracts, casual, temporary or seasonal employment, unions have not had much success in organizing in SEZs. Unions reported continued poor compliance with the law, in part due to the government's lack of capacity to review labor practices in the informal economy. There are reports that some persons who voluntarily surrendered to the police and local government units in the violent anti-drug campaign were forced to perform physical labor, exercise or other activities that could amount to forced labor without charge, trial or finding of guilt after to the law.
The government imposed fines and criminal prosecutions for violations of the law in the formal sector, such as manufacturing. Previous cases reported by DOLE have focused on the service and agricultural sectors, particularly in the fisheries, palm oil and sugar cane industries. Examples of discrimination included the enforcement of rules, policies and regulations that disadvantaged LGBTI people in the workplace.
The minimum wage ranged from 512 pesos ($9.57) per day for non-agricultural workers in the Manila region to 256 pesos ($4.79) per day for agricultural workers in the Ilocos region. Penalties for failure to comply with increases or adjustments in wage rates as prescribed by law are a fine of not more than 25,000 pesos ($468), imprisonment of one to two years, or both. DOLE's Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC) monitors and inspects compliance with labor laws in all sectors, including formal sector workers, non-traditional workers and informal workers, and inspects SEZs and businesses located there.
The Labor Department prioritized increasing the number of officers, while acknowledging that inadequate inspection resources continued to hamper its ability to effectively investigate violations of labor laws, particularly in the informal sector and in small and medium-sized enterprises. Violations of minimum wage standards were common, as was the use of contract workers to avoid payment of required benefits, including in the SEZs. Complaints about payment below the minimum wage and non-payment of social security contributions and bonuses were particularly common among companies in the SEZs.