As of Wednesday, June 30, President Rodrigo Duterte has one year left in office. Several progressive groups marked this event with a protest, echoing the call to hold him accountable over the human rights violations committed under his administration.
“Ito ang panahon na tayo’y laging tumindig laban sa pasistang diktatura ni Duterte at labanan ang kahit anong anyo ng pangyuyurak nito sa ating mga batayang karapatan,” said Kej Andres, national spokesperson of the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP).
(This is the time for us to stand against Duterte’s fascist regime and fight against all forms of violation of our basic rights.)
Among the organizations who joined the on-ground mobilizations in Mendiola were Anakbayan, Panday Sining, the College Editors Guild of the Philippines, KATRIBU National, Kabataan Partylist, DIWA ng Kabataang Lasalyano, Sama-samang Artista para sa Kilusang Agraryo, the National Union of Students of the Philippines, and the SCMP.
Emily Soriano, mother of drug war victim Angelito Soriano, and Lean Porquia, son of slain activist Jory Porquia also attended the protest.
The groups also supported the request of outgoing International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to investigate killings under Duterte’s term. Since he assumed office in June 2016, tens of thousands of people have been killed in Duterte’s drug war. According to a report by the Human Rights Watch, these killings continue to increase amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, several human rights groups pointed out that the real numbers of drug war killings are hard to track because of government policies that make it hard to obtain records. On March 18, the chief executive also said that he is willing to go to prison for killing communists and human rights activists.
Here are photos and videos of the June 30 mobilization in Manila:
– Rappler.com
Patricia Kahanap is a Rappler intern and a fourth-year journalism student at the University of Santo Tomas. She is also the executive editor of TomasinoWeb.org—their university’s premier digital media organization.