Philippines: Protesters increasingly criminalised while activists continue to face baseless charges, harassment and red-tagging

The state of civic space in the Philippines was rated as ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor in its latest People Power Under Attack Report published in December 2025. 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.

In February 2026, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published its annual report. It stated that, despite repeated assurances by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that his administration was prioritising human rights, serious violations continued, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and harassment and threats against activists and journalists. Government security forces implicated in abuses were rarely held accountable.

On 23rd February 2026, The International Criminal Court (ICC) begun pretrial hearings for former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is facing three counts of crimes against humanity for deadly anti-drugs crackdowns he oversaw while in office. Duterte, 80, was not in The Hague courtroom, having waived his right to appear as prosecutors began presenting evidence to support their charges of his alleged involvement in dozens of killings as part of his so-called war on drugs.

In recent months, there have been reports of torture and ill-treatment around the September 2025 anti-corruption protests and the ongoing baseless charges slapped against protesters. Fabricated charges were also filed against two activists after the EDSA protest anniversary. Anti-mining protesters in Nueva Vizcaya and a farmers’ protest camp in Cabuyao were also targeted. Attacks against land rights defenders, baseless terror financing charges and red-tagging have persisted.

Peaceful Assembly

Torture and other abuses by police against protesters documented by human rights group

On 24th November 2025, Amnesty International reported that Philippines police unlawfully targeted protesters with unnecessary and excessive force during anti-corruption marches on 21st September 2025.

As previously documented, tens of thousands in Manila and elsewhere protested against corruption by government officials, high-level politicians and contractors in flood-control and infrastructure projects. Police arbitrarily arrested and detained more than 200 individuals, including 91 children, and denied arrested individuals access to lawyers and their families.

Ten people interviewed by Amnesty International detailed physical abuse by state forces – including violations that may amount to torture and other ill-treatment. Victims described how police punched, kicked and hit people – including children – with batons as they were arrested, with appalling ill-treatment continuing in detention.

Amnesty’s research indicated that peaceful protesters and bystanders were also violently targeted by the police.

All those interviewed said they were brought by the police to a blue tent in Mendiola, where police beat them further. Lawyer Maria Sol Taule, from a legal aid group representing those interviewed, said the “notorious blue tent” served as a temporary holding area for those arrested. While it showed no outward sign of police affiliation, it appeared to be supervised by the police, according to the group’s investigation.

The beatings were so severe that some victims needed medical treatment, according to Taule. Manila police have denied allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, maintaining they continued to observe “maximum tolerance” even while some protesters committed violence.

According to Amnesty International, many of those arrested were detained for at least 10 days after their arrest and only released after posting bail of PhP 18,000 (USD 304) each. On 25th September 2025, lawyers’ groups filed a court motion seeking the release of over 100 people still detained without charge, or beyond the maximum 36 hours of detention allowed for warrantless arrests under Philippine law.

Police said they released all children three days after their arrest. However, a children’s rights advocate supporting some children, told Amnesty the last detained child was released on 29th September, more than a week after being arrested.

Allegations of torture and ill-treatment were also previously reported by the National Union of People’s Lawyers.

Anti-corruption protesters slapped with charges

According to data gathered by human rights group Karapatan, at least 72 persons involved in the 21st September 2025 protests were charged with sedition and incitement to sedition in connection with the Anti-Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. They are among 97 protesters targeted for further criminal prosecution by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on 3rd November 2025 for having joined the huge Baha sa Luneta anti-corruption rally and posting their anti-corruption sentiments online.

Some are also facing others charges including Article 151 (Resistance and disobedience to a person in authority), Article 153 (Tumults and other disturbances of public order), Article 146 (Illegal Assembly), Article 148 (Direct Assault), and Article 320 (Arson), among others, on top of the sedition and incitement to sedition charges.

One of those who received DOJ subpoenas was Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) - an alliance of left-wing organisations - President Renato Reyes Jr. He was informed by the National Union of People’s Lawyers on 15th January 2025 that the DOJ had issued a subpoena against him for sedition, incitement to sedition, and violations of the Cybercrime Law charges. He said: “the allegations against me are patently false, and the claims of sedition are entirely manufactured. These charges rest solely on the fact that I attended the September 21 protest and am a publicly known activist.”

At least four student leaders also received summonses to appear before the DOJ. They are Jacob Baluyot, national chairperson of Alyansa ng Kabataang Mamamahayag and associate editor of The Catalyst; Tiffany Faith Brillante, president of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Sentral na Konseho ng Mag-aaral; Joaquin Buenaflor, chairperson of the University of the Philippines Diliman University Student Council; and Kitsune.

In January 2026, more than 60 individuals who received a subpoena from the DOJ for sedition filed their counter affidavits.

Harassment of anti-corruption protester

Following a 30th November 2025 protest against corruption, a youth party-list member was harassed by the Philippine National Police (PNP) on 1st December 2025. Axell Bergula of Kabataan Partylist (KPL)-Tacloban said that he received a text message from his mother that a certain police officer had been to their house wanting to talk to him and to dissuade him from joining rallies.

His mother said the officer was commanded by a fellow policeman to “interrogate me about my supposed ‘officership’ in KPL-Tacloban as the one ‘handling finance and budget.’”

Bergula said that his mother was also warned by the policeman that he might be “abducted should higher-ups mandate it” and that the PNP already knows his identity as well as his personal information.

Days after filing a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights against the policemen who visited his house, Bergula was again visited by two policemen who entered the school premises of Leyte Normal University (LNU) on 15th December 2025.

Fabricated charges filed against two activists after EDSA protest anniversary

On 25th February 2026, development worker Edel Parducho, and young human rights defender Three Odeña, were arrested and detained by the Philippine National Police Eastern Police District in Mandaluyong City, during the 40th anniversary of the People Power Revolution commemoration march near the EDSA Shrine.

According to the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, the two human rights defenders face charges of “direct assault”, “resistance to authority”, “illegal assembly”, and “physical injury”. The arrest was confirmed by PNP’s Director for Operations, Brig. Gen. Ponce Rogelio Peñones during a press briefing on the same day.

Edel Parducho is the Human Rights Education Officer at PAHRA, and Three Odeña is a Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK) youth activist.

The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) said that the charge of physical injury is baseless and contradicted by video documentation and eyewitness accounts. Edel Parducho was serving as a marshal, protecting mostly women participants from being forcefully pushed by police. Three Odeña was peacefully taking photos when she was suddenly pulled by her hair and arrested. These acts reveal a disturbing pattern of harassment against peaceful protesters.

They called for the immediate release of the two detainees, the dropping of all fabricated charges, and accountability for police officers who violated their rights. They were released on bail on 28th February 2026.

Anti-mining protesters arrested in Nueva Vizcaya

Seven anti-mining protesters, including two elderly women, were arrested in Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya on 23rd January 2026.

Among those arrested were Kagawad Krislyn Pocda, Adela Modi, Analiza Balliao, Amelia Rabino, Janet Macari, and Sonnette Bullecer. They formed part of a human barricade along the Keon Barangay Road to block the entry of Woggle Corp., an affiliate of FCF Minerals Corporation.

Woggle had obtained a highly questionable exploration licence for 3,100-hectares in Dupax del Norte in August 2025, targeting gold and copper deposits. The mining area includes titled land owned by one of the elderly women arrested. Also hauled off to the Dupax del Norte Police Station was Florentino Daynos, president of the anti-mining group in Dupax del Norte.

The residents manning the human barricades are opposed to Woggle’s mining activities, fearing that their town, which earns significant revenues from the production of corn, rice, vegetables and fruit, as well as livestock, will suffer economically.

On 26th January 2026, The Nueva Vizcaya Prosecutor’s Office ruled that the case of “resistance and disobedience against person in authority” against the seven residents had no basis, as did the added “obstruction of justice” charge against community leader Florentino Daynos.

21 farmers arrested after protest camp dismantled in Cabuyao

At least 21 farmers and residents of Sitio Veinte-Veinte Cuatro in Barangay Casile, Cabuyao City were detained following a violent demolition that highlights long-standing land disputes in Laguna.

The arrests took place late in the evening of 7th February 2026, after armed security guards linked to Laguna Estates Development Corporation (LEDC) reportedly took the residents and turned them over to the Philippine National Police – Cabuya Beaches & Islands.

According to reports, the tension began earlier that day when security personnel allegedly blocked access to the barangay and forcibly dismantled a protest camp set up by residents. The operation was reportedly carried out with the assistance of Emirates Security.

Progressive group BAYAN Laguna claimed that those arrested included senior citizens, individuals with existing medical conditions such as diabetes and bladder disease, and even one person with a mental health condition. Officers of the local farmers’ group, Samahan ng mga Magsasaka ng Casile (SAMACA-PUMALAG), were also among those detained.

The 21 were released from detention on the night of 9th February 2026, after the prosecutor dismissed the trespassing charges against them.

The land conflict in Casile dates back to 2024, when farmers accused Sta. Rosa Realty and Development Corporation (SRRDC) of illegally fencing off agricultural land they have long cultivated. Both SRRDC and LEDC are reportedly owned by the same family, raising questions about power imbalance and influence in the dispute.

Association

Attacks against land rights defenders in typhoon-affected communities

In November 2025, human rights alliance KARAPATAN reported attacks against land rights defenders in Negros Occidental and Cagayan Valley, provinces which were impacted by typhoons Tino and Uwan.

Karapatan’s chapters reported the arbitrary arrest of peasant organiser Stalin Valencia in Cagayan Valley and the killing of Joan Escuadro, a member of the Asosasyon sang Mangunguma kag Mangingisda sa Linaon (AMMLIG) in Negros Occidental.

On 3rd November 2025, Joan Escuadro, a peasant member of AMMLIG, was shot dead inside her home in Manauban, Linaon, Cauayan, Negros Occidental. According to the Human Rights Advocates-Negros, on 5th November 2025 the gunmen were seen with troops from the 15th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army at a nearby abandoned house, just across from Escuadro’s home.

On the evening of 15th November 2025, state agents in civilian clothes abducted Stalin Valencia as he was walking on a bridge in San Mateo, Isabela. They forced him into one of their four vehicles and took him to the San Mateo police station. Valencia’s family was only able to access him in the afternoon of 16th November 2025. He faces multiple fabricated charges, including murder and frustrated murder. Valencia is a long-time peasant organiser and an environmental activist in Cagayan Valley.

Activists arrested on fabricated charges of terror financing

On 20th December 2025, Carmilo Tabada, former staff member of Central Visayas Farmers’ Development Center (FARDEC) was arrested at his residence in Bohol by elements of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group on trumped-up financing terrorism charges under the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012 (Republic Act No. 10168). Tabada currently serves as a councillor of Barangay Poblacion, Trinidad, Bohol.

The trumped-up financing terrorism case against Tabada had already been dismissed in early 2025 for lack of jurisdiction but was revived recently. KARAPATAN slammed the police’s swift action against activists. “This is selective justice, pure and simple, and shows continuing state repression of development workers.”

The court later granted him bail of 200,000 Pesos (USD 3,362) for temporary release.

On 27th December 2025, Michael Cabangon, a Cordillera labour leader and cultural worker, was arrested at his Baguio home on a terrorism financing charge (based on testimonies by “military assets”). Cabangon serves as regional coordinator of the labour group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)–Cordillera and organises the drivers’ group PISTON Metro-Baguio. He also fronts for the progressive band Ebkas Waya (Speak Free). Cabangon was freed after posting bail at the Regional Trial Court a couple of days later.

KMU Cordillera and the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CPA) condemned Cabangon’s arrest as part of an emerging trend of using counter-terrorism laws to intimidate activists. The CPA dismissed the allegations against Cabangon as “false and baseless” and called on the public to stand with them in denouncing the incident.

Lawyer in Mindanao red-tagged

In December 2025, the Union of People’s Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) condemned retired Army officer Antonio Parlade Jr.’s posts tagging human rights defender and environmental lawyer Antonio La Viña as sympathetic to communists, following the latter’s legal defence of former party list lawmakers Satur Ocampo (Bayan Muna) and France Castro (ACT Teachers).

UPLM said Parlade’s attack on La Viña for performing his sworn duty as a lawyer was a direct assault on the right to counsel and the independence of the legal profession.

The lawyers’ group cited the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in the case of Siegfred D. Deduro v. Maj. Gen. Eric C. Vinoya promulgated on 4th July 2023 (G.R. No. 254753), which ruled that “Red-tagging, vilification, labelling, and guilt by association threaten a person’s right to life, liberty, or security” and may justify the issuance of a writ of amparo, a legal remedy for protection.

According to the lawyers, the ruling provides a powerful legal shield against Parlade’s tactics as it affirmed that “the fear induced by red-tagging is not imagined but is a real and clear threat to an individual’s security that the law must address.”

Red-tagging of Bicol labour leaders

According to the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) on 9th February 2025, posters were found at Bicol University (BU), Bicol College (BC), Legazpi City National High School (LCNHS), Legazpi Science High School (LSHS) and Daraga North Central School (DNCS) implicating two labour leaders and five mass movement leaders in an encounter between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and rebel group New People’s Army (NPA) on 23rd December 2025 in Lagonoy, Camarines Sur that left five people dead.

Those named include transport leader Ramon Rescovilla (Condor-Piston), teacher leader Julius Espadero (Alliance of Concerned Teachers or ACT Union), Jen Nagrampa and Dan Balucio (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan), Aubrey Verzosa and Sherra Buen (Tarabang para sa Bicol, Inc. or TABI), and Ranny Morada Ugalde (Tau Gamma Phi and Albay Movement Against Corruption or AMAC).

CTUHR condemned the case of red-tagging of leaders of the labour and social movements in the Bicol region and demanded that the Marcos Jr government stop and investigate these actions and hold accountable those responsible for this human rights violation.

Activist returns to the US after being detained

Chantal Anicoche, a Filipino-American activist was held by the Armed Forces of the Philippines for nearly a month before being returned to the United States on 30th January 2026.

Anicoche - who was in the Philippines for volunteer work with indigenous Mangyan communities and farmers - was reported disappeared on 1st January 2026 after the army bombed an area in Barangay Cabacao, Abra de Ilog.

Anicoche surfaced in a military video on 8th January 2026, emerging from a hole where the Philippine military claimed she hid for eight days. Human rights groups called the video staged.

Anicoche was held incommunicado by the army inside Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal for at least 23 days. Lawyers, human rights advocates and progressive lawmakers made multiple attempts to speak with her and ascertain her condition but were blocked and denied.

On 10th January 2025, the army purported that she had signed “an affidavit of undertaking” to “voluntarily” remain with the military and undergo medical treatment.

Writer and activist acquitted after five years of unjust detention

In January 2026, a court acquitted activist and student leader Amanda Echanis in her illegal possession of firearms and explosives case filed in the middle of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s crackdown against activists and dissent. She had spent more than five years in detention.

In its ruling, the court found that the prosecution failed to establish the essential elements of the case.

Her arrest on 2nd December 2020 raised serious concerns, including allegations of evidence planting and violations of due process. Authorities arrested Echanis at her home while she was caring for her then one-month-old child. She was detained on charges routinely used against individuals who have been ‘red-tagged’—publicly accused, without evidence, of links to communist insurgency groups. Repeated delays kept her in prolonged pre-trial detention, undermining her right to a fair and timely trial.

Expression

Journalist and human rights defender convicted

In January 2026, journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and human rights defender Marielle Domequil were found guilty of financing terrorism and sentenced to at least 12 years in prison, after spending nearly six years behind bars in pre-trial detention.

Cumpio was convicted by Tacloban City’s Regional Trial Court Branch 45 on 22nd January alongside her former roommate and human rights activist Domequil. Judge Georgina Uy Perez found Cumpio and Domequil guilty of financing terrorism ‘beyond reasonable doubt’, but acquitted separate charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

Cumpio, the executive director of the Eastern Vista news website and a news anchor with Aksyon Radyo Tacloban, was arrested on 7th February 2020, alongside four other human rights activists known as the ‘Tacloban 5’, in a series of police raids in Tacloban City. Cumpio first faced charges of the illegal possession of a firearm and hand grenade allegedly found in her bed, before a terrorism financing charge was added more than a year later.

On 6th November 2025, a further charge of murder against Cumpio was dismissed after judges ruled she was mistakenly identified as the individual the complaint was addressed to. On 29th October 2025, the Court of Appeals also nullified a lower court-mandated fine in the ‘anti-terror’ case, with the court stating it found no evidence to link Cumpio and Domequil to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) or its military arm, the New People’s Army (NPA).

Prior to her arrest, Cumpio would frequently cover alleged abuses of power perpetrated by military forces on Eastern Vista, a news site affiliated with Altermidya, an independent network of media outlets that support coverage of marginalised and underrepresented communities in the Philippines. Cumpio and her colleagues were subject to ‘red-tagging’.

UN experts said that the conviction of journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and human rights defender Marielle Domequil in the Philippines on charges of financing terrorism ‘is deeply troubling’. They added: “Frenchie and Marielle have suffered six years of pre-trial detention and a fraught legal process with a string of charges that have been widely criticised as baseless and in retaliation for their human rights work.”

A regional trial court in February 2026 denied their petition for bail The Tacloban Regional Trial Court Branch 45 ruled that there was no strong or compelling reason to grant the joint motion for bail filed by the two accused.

Abortion service website censored, cutting access to essential health information

Women on Web’s online abortion service has been censored in the Philippines, leaving thousands of people without access to critical abortion information and care.

According to Women on Web, in early December 2025, multiple care seekers wrote to Women on Web’s help desk saying that they could no longer access the website. They shared screenshots of error messages and warnings that appeared when attempting to open the site.

Based on these reports, and corroborating data provided by the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), the Women on Web site is currently blocked on several networks in the Philippines.

In response to the blockage, Women on Web deployed an anti-censorship mirror site that provides the same information available on the censored main site.

Abortion is completely criminalised in the Philippines, and censoring access to information is devastating for Filipino care seekers, who already face some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world.

Media outlet wins landmark case against censorship

A local court in Quezon City granted the complaint for nullification filed by media outfit Bulatlat against the memorandum ordering the blocking of 27 websites.

The NTC issued the memorandum after receiving a letter from former National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr alleging without evidence that the 27 websites promote terrorism or are linked to terrorist groups.

In its decision dated 18th November 2025, Judge Catherine Manodon of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 104 voided the National Telecommunications 8th June 2022 memorandum, declaring that the order constitutes content-based prior restraint.

The ruling noted that “the NTC’s issuance effectively imposed censorship even before the alleged objectionable content could be subject to any judicial determination.”

The court noted that the defendants – the NTC, National Security Council and Esperon Jr. – failed to demonstrate the existence of any clear and present danger that would justify the blocking of the websites.

In a statement, Bulatlat said the court decision is a big win for press freedom, free speech and free expression.