Philippines: Crackdown and arrest of anti-corruption protesters and ongoing targeting of activists

The state of civic space in the Philippines is rated as ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. Concerns documented in recent years include the arrest and detention of activists, often on fabricated charges. Human rights defenders have also been ‘red-tagged’, putting them at risk of arrest or even being killed. Civil society has also documented the harassment and attacks against journalists.

Former President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte was charged in September 2025 with three counts of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which alleges that he played a role in the murders of at least 76 people during his so-called “war on drugs”.

On 6th October 2025, The Philippine and European Union delegations convened the 5th Subcommittee Meeting on Good Governance, Rule of Law, and Human Rights. The meeting reaffirmed both sides’ shared commitment to democracy, accountability, and human rights as key pillars of sustainable peace and development.

In recent months, there was a brutal crackdown on anti-corruption protests and increasing use of protest laws to criminalise peaceful assembly. A transport sector activist, Felixberto Consad, was arrested in Leyte on fabricated charges, and woman human rights defender Sally Crisostomo Ujano remains detained. There has been military harassment of solidarity mission delegates while the Philippines remains the deadliest country in Asia for environmental defenders. Journalists have been killed in attacks by unknown persons.

Peaceful Assembly

Arrests and excessive use of force by police during anti-corruption protests

Tens of thousands of Filipinos took to the streets on 21st September 2025 to protest against government corruption after it was alleged that taxpayers have lost billions of dollars to bogus flood relief projects.

Lawmakers and officials are alleged to have pocketed huge kickbacks in exchange for contracts, while crucial projects intended to protect the country from flood damage have not materialised.

Students, church groups, celebrities, and citizens from different political camps filled the streets in Manila and other cities. The protests were largely peaceful although there were allegations of violence by some of the protesters.

In response, Amnesty International reported that police used unnecessary and excessive force, arbitrarily arrested and detained more than 200 individuals including 91 children, and denied arrested individuals access to lawyers and their families. Among those arrested were students, vendors, delivery riders, construction workers, bystanders, and persons with disabilities.

The organisation also reported that water cannon and tear gas were used against protesters who were simply exercising their right of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression and the police did not observe policing principles of legality, necessity and proportionality.

Amnesty International said: “The Philippine National Police (PNP) must promptly and impartially investigate and hold accountable its officers suspected to be responsible for alleged human rights violations. Amnesty International Philippines is further concerned about allegations of the police’s use of firearms and improvised explosive devices against protesters.”

According to KARAPATAN, although most were arrested on 21st September, they were only subjected to inquest proceedings days later, well beyond the maximum 36-hour period mandated by Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code.

The police have filed a range of charges against the detainees: “illegal assembly”, “direct assault”, “resistance and disobedience”, “tumultuous disturbance”, “malicious mischief” and violations of BP. 880 — the Marcos-era Public Assembly Act 1985, long criticised for curtailing the people’s right to protest.

KARAPATAN said: “These charges are flimsy and unfounded. Many of those arrested were simply exercising their right to free speech and peaceful assembly, while others were ordinary bystanders indiscriminately picked up.”

Martial law-era protest law used against anti-corruption protesters

Four mass leaders from Cebu - Jaime Paglinawan of BAYAN-Central Visayas, John Ruiz of Bayan Muna, Belinda Allere of Panaghugpong-KADAMAY, and Howell Villacrucis of Ama-Sugbo-KMU - have received subpoenas from the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office directing them to submit their counter-affidavits after the police charged them with violating the Public Assembly Act 1985 (BP 880). The charges stem from an anti-corruption protest on 5th September 2025 at the Cebu City District Engineering Office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

According to the subpoena, the respondents violated Section 13(A) of BP 880, specifically holding a public assembly without a written permit from the office concerned. According to the subpoena, protesters threw rotten tomatoes, causing damage to the DPWH, a government property.

Also charged with violating BP 880 is environmental activist and Karapatan National Council member Jonila Castro, who was served a subpoena by the Pasig City Prosecutor’s Office for having joined an anti-corruption protest on 4th September 2024 in front of the office of St. Gerrard Construction, which is owned by Pacifico and Sarah Discaya, DPWH contractors who are embroiled in the flood control corruption scandal.

KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay said: “We denounce this slew of charges against anti-corruption protesters as a curtailment of the people’s freedom to assemble, air their grievances and demand accountability.”

Association

Transport sector activist arrested in Leyte on fabricated charges

Transport sector activist Felix Consad, a member of PISTON, a federation of public transport groups and associations in the Philippines, was arrested on 14th August 2025.

Consad, 61, was at the balcony of their house in Sogod, Southern Leyte, when a man in plainclothes entered their yard, followed by a uniformed policeman and two other persons in plainclothes. Consad was served an arrest warrant on charges of murder and then brought to the Sogod Police Station.

Consad has belonged to the Butuan chapter of PISTON since 2013. However, he transferred to Leyte in 2018 due to intensified harassment and surveillance. The surveillance, however, did not stop even after his transfer.

Felix’s wife, Rosanilla “Teacher Lai” Consad, a unionist and special education teacher, was previously charged in a similarly fabricated case that was later dismissed in 2021 for lack of evidence.

Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general, said: “We condemn the arrest of Felix Consad, many years after he was forced to leave his hometown after suffering from intensified harassment and red-tagging, he and his wife.”

Palabay believes the ridiculous charges against Felix are fabricated, meant to ultimately silence and vilify him as a member of the transport group.

Detention and continued criminalisation of woman human rights defender

In August 2025, the UN published a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Government of the Philippines. The letter was regarding Salome (Sally) Crisostomo Ujano, a woman human rights defender who has served as Executive Director of the Women’s Crisis Center (WCC), resource mobilisation officer and coordinator of the WCC survivors’ support programme. The UN experts raised concerns about her arbitrary arrest and continued criminalisation.

On 16th May 2024, Ujano was arrested and convicted by Branch 266 of the Taguig City Regional Trial Court on charges of rebellion and accused of being a high-ranking officer and member of a group involved in a series of crimes committed against government troops. The information used to charge Ujano stated that more than sixty unidentified members of the NPA ambushed and fired upon members of the Philippine Army.

According to evidence introduced by the prosecution, Ujano had been identified by two witnesses in a video conference hearing who claimed that they had seen her engaging in hostilities against government troops. In response to these allegations, the woman human rights defender provided an alibi reportedly supported by witness testimonies and documentary evidence, such as bank checks and WCC reports, which provided that during 19-25th November 2005, she had been engaged in professional and personal activities at various locations up to 100 km from where the events in question were supposed to have taken place.

On the same date, Ujano was sentenced by Branch 266 of the Taguig City Regional Trial Court to serve a minimum of ten years in prison and a maximum of 17 years and four months.

Military harassment of solidarity mission delegates

In October 2025, KARAPATAN reported numerous forms and incidents of harassment by soldiers against the delegates of an international solidarity mission on climate justice and militarism in various communities in Rizal, Mindoro, Negros Occidental and Leyte.

The mission, organised by various international organisations, reported forms and incidents of harassment including surveillance of delegates in Manila and Leyte, and harassment by barangay officials in Mindoro who demanded permits for the mission and a list of names of delegates, and threatened to declare participants persona non grata if the mission failed to comply.

There was also surveillance of delegates in Leyte, Negros, Rizal and Mindoro by soldiers in civilian clothes and harassment by members of the 80th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army and barangay officials in Rizal, who demanded names and identification documents of ISM delegates.

There was drone surveillance of delegates in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro; and harassment by personnel from the Land Transportation Office in Mindoro, who demanded identification documents of delegates when they accompanied Iraya indigenous people to their court hearing.

Deadliest country in Asia for environmental defenders

The Philippines was still the deadliest country in Asia for land and environmental defenders in 2024, according to a new report from watchdog group Global Witness published in September 2025

This is the 12th consecutive year the country has reported the highest number of murders and long-term disappearances in Asia since Global Witness started counting in 2012.

Although the Philippines saw a decrease in cases - 8 in 2024 compared to the 17 in 2023 - Global Witness noted that the majority or six of the attacks in 2024 “were linked to government bodies”, with four cases involving the military.

Global Witness named the eight defenders in its report: Ronde Arpilleda Asis, Dionisio Baloy, Alberto Ortula Cuartero, Jay-El Maligday, Gregorio Navarette Jr., Boyet Rodrigo, Bernard Torres, Felix Salaveria Jr. (disappeared).

The group said that while the cases in 2024 decreased, violent attacks “have not necessarily abated.”

Charges against activists and journalists dropped or acquitted by the courts

In recent months, activists and journalists have had their cases either thrown out by the courts or been acquitted.

Women’s rights activist, social worker and former GABRIELA officer Hedda Calderon, NDFP consultant for labour reforms Adelberto Silva, activist and organic farmer Edisel Legaspi, trade union organiser Ireneo Atadero, and their driver and companion Julio Lusania—collectively known as the “Sta. Cruz 5” - were acquitted on 6th August 2025 by Taguig City Regional Trial Court Branch 70 of trumped up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

The court decision cited significant lapses in the evidence and testimonies presented by the prosecution, thus casting reasonable doubt on the identity, integrity, and admissibility of the firearms and explosives that the police “found” in their possession when they were arrested almost seven years ago in Sta. Cruz, Laguna. The court thus ruled on their acquittal and ordered their immediate release from detention.

On 22nd September 2025 a female journalist and five activists, who spent seven years behind bars after being accused of illegal possession of firearms and ties with communist insurgents, were released. The single-judge bench of Marie Rose Inocando-Paras of the Regional Trial Court in Dumaguete City in central Philippines dismissed charges against journalist Myles Albasin and activists Carlo Ybañez, Ajomar Indico, Randel Hermino, Joel Baylosis, and Bernard Guillen. The judge also ruled their arrest in March 2018 following allegations by a military unit as invalid.

On 11th August 2025, activist Myrna Zapanta received a Department of Justice resolution dismissing the complaints against her for lack of credible evidence. Zapanta has dedicated much of her life to working with the church and advocating for farmers’ rights in the Ilocos region. Since October 2024, she has faced the threat of arrest and detention for terrorism financing. The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Regional Field Unit in Ilocos filed six complaints under the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act (TFPSA) of 2012 – three counts of allegedly violating Section 7, which refers to being an accessory to terrorism financing, and three counts under Section 8, which prohibits knowingly handling property or funds belonging to designated persons.

Baguio city adopts human rights defenders’ protection ordinance

In September 2025, human rights groups welcomed the adoption of the Baguio City Human Rights Defenders’ Protection Ordinance as a significant step toward recognising the legitimacy and importance of human rights work in the Philippines.

According to the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), the ordinance affirms that the right to defend human rights is itself a fundamental right. It guarantees a broad range of rights essential to human rights work: the right to form groups, associations, and organisations; the right to access resources from domestic and international sources; the right to engage and advocate with administrative, legislative, and judicial bodies; and the right to seek, receive, and share information.

Crucially, it also grants HRDs access to places of detention, one of the most restricted yet vital spaces for human rights monitoring. This provision directly strengthens safeguards against torture and other forms of ill-treatment.

The ordinance goes further by setting out positive obligations for local authorities. These include protecting HRDs, preserving and expanding civic space, and guaranteeing freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, association, movement, and privacy, along with protection from intimidation and reprisals. In addition, the ordinance provides remedies for violations, including legal and psychosocial support for HRDs at risk, victims of human rights violations, and their families.

Expression

Journalists killed in attacks

Journalists in the Philippines remain at risk for undertaking their reporting

On 22nd July 2025, Radio WOW FM journalist Erwin Labitad Segovia was shot by unidentified assailants while riding his motorcycle home after his morning broadcast. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Segovia was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital in Bislig city in the southern province of Surigao del Sur.

Segovia, popularly known as “Boy Pana”, hosted a regular radio programme on local governance and social issues, as well as a programme to boost former local mayor Carla Lopez-Pichay’s campaign for May’s mid-term elections.

The Presidential Task Force on Media Security, set up in 2016 to investigate media murders, said authorities had activated the Special Investigation Task Group on New Cases to look into the killing and were conducting a “hot pursuit operation” to apprehend the suspects.

On 20th October 2025, Noel Bellen Samar, 54, a radio reporter with the local outlets Kadunong ITV and DWIZ, was shot while travelling on the Maharlika Highway in Guinobatan, a municipality in the Bicol region’s central Albay province. According to CPJ, he sustained four gunshot wounds from a .45-calibre pistol and died on 21st October 2025 after surgery at Bicol Regional Hospital and Medical Centre.

Guinobatan police said they had launched a manhunt and were coordinating with nearby municipal police stations to set up checkpoints to capture the gunman, who fled the crime scene.

Noel Bellen Samar is the eighth radio journalist to be killed in the Philippines since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in June 2022.

The Philippines ranked ninth on CPJ’s most recent Impunity Index, a global ranking of countries where journalists’ murderers are most likely to go free.