Human Rights and Justice

Efforts to reform police force and hold erring officers accountable

In reported cases of police abuse, there have been efforts by the PNP to hold erring officers accountable. In the case of Zinampan, for example (see “shadows” column), criminal and administrative charges were filed, and PNP Chief Gen. Eleazar vowed to rid the PNP of “rotten eggs”. Eleazar also vowed that the seven police personnel charged for the slay of Calbayog City Mayor Ronaldo Aquino would not be coddled.

Beyond individual cases of abuse, he also pointed to some systemic reforms being undertaken or considered by the PNP, such as the strengthening of a complaint system that would allow the public to air grievances about erring officers. The PNP was also considering mandating neuropsychiatric tests for officers every three years, and Gen. Eleazar appealed for lawmakers’ support on this measure. The PNP also launched on June 4 the use of body-worn cameras (BWCs) to ensure the transparency and legitimacy of police operations. “The procurement and eventually the use of Body Camera Worn System is a tribute not only to Kian delos Santos who died of police abuse in Caloocan City but also to the policemen whose ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty were tainted by claims of extra-judicial killings, planting of evidence and other unfair allegations,” Eleazar said. Around 3,000 BWCs were distributed to police stations in different parts of the country, and the PNP was looking to procure 30,000 more units. The BWCs would be used during certain operations, such as illegal drug stings, hostage and rescue operations, high-risk checkpoints, national events requiring tight security, serving of search and arrest warrants, and the implementation of court orders. The PNP was coordinating with the Supreme Court on protocols in using BWCs.

The Office of the Ombudsman also filed and affirmed homicide charges against four Caloocan police officers for their alleged involvement in the killings of father and son, Luis Bonifacio and Gabriel Lois, during an anti-drug operation in 2016. While police claimed that they had shot the duo in self-defence, Bonifacio’s wife said that the police had barged into their house at 12:30am, and ordered her and her three children out of the house as Luis was on his knees and Gabriel begged them not to hurt his father. The Deputy Ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices (MOLEO) rejected the policemen’s claim, saying they had failed to prove that there was a prior unlawful or unprovoked attack, since no photograph of slug marks from the crime scene had been produced, and the sheer number of wounds on vital parts of the victims negated the claim of self-defence. Besides the four charged with homicide, five other policemen were also suspended for one month without pay for simple neglect of duty, as they had failed to conduct a thorough crime scene investigation.

Incidents of police abuse

• Olongapo police station chief relieved after controversial viral buy-bust operation. On January 2, police station commander Captain Walter Primero and two other officers, all in plainclothes, were seen trying to drag a drug suspect named Nesty Gongora into a car while being resisted by a group of Gongora’s relatives. A CCTV video of the incident, which lasted for around 30 minutes, went viral. Gongora’s relatives said they were told initially that he had been accosted for not wearing a face mask, but the police said that they had conducted a legitimate buy-bust operation not captured in the CCTV video, and found packets of “shabu” on Gongora. Gongora later tested positive in a drug test and was charged for violating the Dangerous Drugs Act. Police said that Gongora’s relatives would also be charged with obstruction of justice, direct assault upon agents of persons in authority, and violation of quarantine protocols. Brigadier Gen. Valeriano De Leon, director of Central Luzon regional police, ordered a probe of the operation for possible lapses, and relieved Captain Primero as police station commander pending the investigation.

• Police involvement in killing of Calbayog mayor. Calbayog City Mayor Ronaldo Aquino was slain in disputed circumstances on March 8 while he was on the way to the birthday celebration of his son. His vehicle was tailed by a van carrying agents from the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) and the Police Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU). In the course of what police alleged was a shootout, Aquino was killed along with his police escort and driver, a civilian caught in the crossfire, and two other police officers from the camp that clashed with the mayor’s group.

Calbayog City police chief Lt Col. Neil Montaño was relieved of his post due to command responsibility. On June 10, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also filed murder and frustrated murder complaints before the DOJ against the seven police officers linked to Aquino’s death. The police officers were later placed under restrictive custody.

Sen. Leila de Lima filed a Senate Resolution calling on her colleagues to launch an inquiry into the wave of attacks of city and municipal leaders in the country. The resolution reported that 25 mayors and vice mayors had already been killed since President Duterte came into power.

• Alleged rape, torture, and robbery by police in Cebu. Ritchie Nepomuceno, a 35-year-old businesswoman, filed a complaint with the Integrity Monitoring and Enhancement Group Visayas Field Unit (IMEG-VFU) alleging that she had been arrested without a warrant, robbed of valuables by the police during a search operation in her home on March 9 extorted of ₱170,000, and brought to a motel against her will, where she was raped.

The 11 Cebu City policemen who were identified in her complaint were relieved from their posts. Pasil Police Station 6 chief Major Eduard Sanchez was also relieved for failing to supervise his personnel. In April, Cebu City suspended the local government-funded allowances of the policemen involved.

Two more women then filed complaints with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the IMEG-VFU about being tortured physically and psychologically in the same secret room where Nepomuceno had been detained.

On April 19, Nepomuceno was gunned down by unknown assailants. A few hours later, Police Staff Sergeant Celso Colita, the officer who had led the police team’s brazen extortion and was accused of raping Nepomuceno twice, was said to have shot himself inside the toilet of the police station. Questions were raised about how he could have obtained the gun as his service weapon had been taken from him.

After Nepomuceno’s death, the Cebu City government withdrew the legal assistance it had offered to her family when the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) allegedly uncovered Nepomuceno’s possible links to illegal drugs. The CCPO also claimed that there might have been a “love triangle” between Nepomuceno, a suspected drug lord currently detained in the Cebu City Jail, and Colita himself.

• Shooting of 52-year-old woman in Quezon City by drunk police officer. A drunk Police Master Sgt. Hensie Zinampan killed 52-year-old Lilybeth Valdez on June 1 in the course of a dispute, grabbing her by the hair and shooting her in the neck. Zinampan was drunk at the time, and the incident was caught on video. Murder charges were filed against him, along with administrative charges of grave misconduct. Police Director General Guillermo Eleazar publicly berated Zinampan, shaking and shouting at him, and later apologized for not being more circumspect.

While presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that this incident was an exception to the rule, Undersecretary Martin Diño of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said that unwarranted killings by PNP personnel may be more frequent than the government would like to admit.

Questionable incident in holding police officers accountable for abuses

• Tondo precinct police cleared of criminal and administrative liability for the detention of 12 people in a narrow hidden cell. The Office of the Ombudsman dismissed criminal and administrative complaints filed by the CHR against policemen in Manila, who had maintained an alleged secret detention facility in Tondo. On April 27, 2017, during an unannounced jail visit, the CHR found a narrow cell hidden behind a bookcase in a Tondo police station. Twelve detainees were found in the one-meter wide and five-meter long room, which had no electricity, proper ventilation, or working urinals, forcing detainees to urinate and defecate into plastic bags. Police said that blotters had not been prepared on the detainees as they had just been arrested the day before, but some detainees claimed that they had been kept for days with no charges filed against them. Some also alleged that the police had demanded money—between ₱30,000 and ₱100,000—in exchange for their release.

However, the Ombudsman found that there was a “lack of proof of bad faith” to substantiate the complaints filed against the policemen. Its resolution on the case said that the CHR should have shown that “there was another available confinement area which is better than the one where the detainees were locked up,” and that absent that, there was no proof “that respondents intentionally and maliciously refused to accord them such.” It accepted Police Supt. Robert Domingo’s claim that budget constraints forced the officers to be resourceful in finding space to hold the detainees, and that the holding room was adequate.

The CHR registered its disappointment with the Ombudsman’s decision, and has filed a motion for reconsideration which has not yet been resolved.

• Interagency panel review reveals widespread lapses in law enforcement protocols. Since 2020, an inter-agency DOJ-led review panel has been looking into deaths related to the government’s anti-drug campaign. The panel was created following a report by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, which found that serious human rights violations had taken place in the government’s anti-drug campaign.

In February, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra made a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), admitting that in half the police operations covered by the review, law enforcement had failed to follow protocols. While the PNP asserted that many drug suspects were killed because they fought back, in many cases no full examination of the weapon recovered was conducted, nor verification of ownership undertaken. Requests for ballistic examination or paraffin tests were also not pursued to completion, leading to suspicions of evidence planting by the police. He said that these cases had been referred to appropriate state agencies, and that it was now “the immediate task of the review panel to ensure that these recommendations [are] acted upon and carried out by the proper disciplinarian authorities, and that measures are adopted to minimize loss of lives during legitimate law-enforcement operations against illegal drugs.”

This was the first time that a top administration official had admitted widespread lapses in the anti-drug campaign. While administration officials touted Guevarra’s report as a sign that national accountability mechanisms were working, critics said the report showed that the DOJ had been “asleep at the switch” while widespread violations were occurring. Others said the report merely served as a “smokescreen” that put the blame on rank-and-file police officers while shielding higher-ranked officials who were the “principal enablers’’ of extrajudicial killings.

DOJ granted access to limited case records by the PNP and PDEA. On June 2, the PNP gave the DOJ access to the records of 53 police operations that resulted in the deaths of drug suspects. The new PNP chief Gen. Eleazar’s decision to share the records ended his predecessor’s policy, which had made it “rather difficult” for the DOJ-led review panel to carry out its function. In the cases shared, the PNP Internal Affairs Service (IAS) had found lapses on the part of the police personnel involved. While the records given so far concern just a fraction of the 5,665 police operations that have taken place, involving more than 7,000 deaths, Gen. Eleazar said that the PNP would also be willing to give the DOJ access to all its records upon the DOJ’s request. The PDEA also submitted 107 cases for review by the DOJ-led panel. The CHR and the Secretary of Justice said that these records were criminal in nature and did not involve national security issues, contrary to President Duterte’s previous pronouncements.

• The ICC prosecutor requested a full investigation into the drug war, but Philippine government vowed not to be cooperative. On June 14, a day before her retirement from the ICC, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda requested authorization to open a full investigation into drug war killings in the Philippines. Bensouda submitted her report to the Pre-Trial Chamber after conducting a preliminary examination into the killings. She submitted that there was “reasonable basis to believe” that the crime against humanity of murder “was committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against a civilian population pursuant to or in furtherance of a state policy.” In a surprising move, she expanded the scope of the probe to include Davao EJKs from November 1, 2011 to 2016, citing the similarities between the killings that took place there and on the national level from 2016. President Duterte was the main respondent in the case, while two former PNP chiefs were also said to be “responsible for ordering, directing and organizing the overall conduct of war on drugs operations.”

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that the Philippine government would not cooperate with any ICC investigation as the Philippines had withdrawn as a party to the ICC treaty. However, under the ICC protocols, the Court still retains jurisdiction over crimes alleged to have occurred during the period when the Philippines was still an ICC member (i.e., until March 2019). Roque also claimed that there was no need for the ICC to investigate as the Philippine legal system was working to address any abuses that might have been committed. President Duterte himself said that he would readily face a Philippine court, but questioned, “Why would I defend or face an accusation before white people?” He said that he never ordered killings of people involved with drugs, but admitted that he had threatened to kill them. Other government agencies including the PDEA and the National Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict (NTP-ELCAC) also denounced the prosecutor’s request. On the other hand, the CHR called on the Duterte administration to participate in the ICC’s full investigation should it push through.

• Senate debates criminalizing red-tagging. The Senate committee on national defense released its report on red-tagging on February 22, 2021. Signed by 13 senators, one with dissent, it concluded that there was no need to criminalize red-tagging in the Philippines since there were already legal remedies available to those aggrieved. It called on progressive groups, particularly the Makabayan bloc from the House of Representatives, to address their involvement with communist groups by “openly and strongly denounc[ing] the CPP-NPA-NDF for its actual acts of aggression against the duly constituted government and against the people,” and to disassociate themselves from the armed struggle.

To the government’s security forces, the report advised against publicly linking institutions or activist groups to the communist insurgency only on the basis of unproven information or intelligence reports. “The recklessness in making such inaccurate and inconsistent public pronouncements causes not only damage to the reputation of those identified, but also weakens the credibility of the government in safeguarding the security of the State,” the report said. “To earn the trust and confidence of the people, they must prove the legitimacy of their means used in gathering information and the credibility of their evidence,” it added.

It pointed out particularly that the controversial pronouncements of Southern Luzon Command Chief Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. had been “damaging” to the integrity of the administration’s anti-insurgency task force as well as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

The Senate committee report was presented in plenary in March, where a resolution was adopted recommending the immediate relief of Lt. Gen. Parlade as spokesperson of the NTF-ELCAC, on the basis that there was potential conflict in him having concurrent military and civilian posts. However, instead of heeding the Senate’s advice, the NTF-ELCAC retained Lt. Gen. Parlade as spokesperson, along with Lorraine Badoy (whose statements had also generated much controversy), and appointed an additional six spokespersons. In April, after controversial red-tagging of community pantries by the NTF-ELCAC, there were calls for a probe or audit of how its funds were used. Six senators brought up the possibility of withdrawing funding for the NTF-ELCAC in the next budget cycle, and realigning the funds instead to pandemic response. However, the proposal met opposition from some quarters, with two senators calling instead for relief of erring officials.

On March 24, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon filed a bill criminalizing red-tagging. The explanatory note to the bill described the situation of recent months as "an unprecedented rapid escalation of...the State’s malicious labeling and stereotyping of individuals or groups as communists or terrorists." This bill did not receive an enthusiastic response among the majority of senators. However, following red-tagging of the Senate employees union Senado by two government officials without proof (as mentioned in the “shadows” column), Senate President Vicente Sotto III said that he was now “inclined” to support proposals to criminalize red-tagging.

Arrests of activists

• Red-tagged “Bakwit School 7” arrested and released. On February 15, police arrested seven people and “rescued” 19 lumad children from a retreat house in the University of San Carlos (USC)-Talamban Campus in Cebu. A livestreamed video of the operation showed the children screaming as they were forced out of a classroom by men in uniform. According to the Save Our Schools Network, a group of child-focused NGOs and church-based groups, the children were part of their “bakwit” school program. This program provided opportunities for lumad children who were not able to study safely in their own communities (because of the existing conflict between the Philippine government and the CPP-NPA) to continue their education in universities and colleges in different parts of the Philippines that pledged to host them for certain periods of time. The USC said that they had started hosting the students along with five teachers and three community leaders on March 11, 2020 as part of the program, and that the students were supposed to complete their classes and return to their communities on April 3, 2020. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, USC agreed to shelter the group for an extended time, and preparations were already ongoing to send the children home in batches when the police took them away.

In a conflicting account, the police said that the children had been taken from their parents under deceptive circumstances, and that they should not have left their home province of Davao. They claimed the rescue operation was conducted because several of the children’s parents had approached the police for help. This was refuted by some of the students, who said that police had frequented their communities and coerced their parents into going to Cebu to retrieve their children. Six of the 19 students’ parents were present during the operation in Cebu. The authorities also claimed that the children had been brought to Cebu City “to undergo revolutionary training as future armed combatants” by communist forces.

Seven adults present with the lumad minors were arrested and charged with violations of the Child Abuse Law, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, kidnapping, and serious illegal detention. However, the cases against them were dismissed by the Provincial Prosecutor of Davao Del Norte on May 5, and they were later released. The cases were dismissed for being outside of the jurisdiction of the Davao Prosecutor, insufficiency of evidence, and lack of probable cause to support any of the crimes allegedly committed. The NTF-ELCAC said it planned to file new charges against the group known as the “Bakwit School 7”.

• Peasant and labor leaders arrested in Pampanga, Tarlac in ‘Huli Week’. The PNP arrested two leaders of farmers and laborers’ groups on March 30 over alleged possession of firearms and explosives. Joseph Canlas, national vice chair of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and chair of Alyansa ng Magbubukid ng Gitnang Luson (AMGL), and Pol Viuya, chair of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Gitnang Luson (Bayan GL), were arrested separately in Pampanga and Tarlac provinces. Human rights group Karapatan said that prior to their arrest, the two had been repeatedly red-tagged on social media, posters and flyers.

Red-tagging of activists

• List of UP alumni posted on AFP facebook page as alleged members of NPA who had either died or been captured. On January 22, the Facebook page of the AFP Information Exchange posted a list of several UP students whom they claimed had joined the CPP-NPA, and had either died or been captured. Among those tagged in the list were lawyers and former government officials. The list was condemned by individuals and groups named in or associated with the list, some of whom refuted ever joining the NPA, ever having been arrested, or even being dead. Alex Padilla, one of those tagged, said that by posting the list, the AFP was “playing cavalierly with [their] lives” against the backdrop of the anti-terrorism law and red-tagging. The AFP later apologized for the error-riddled list and the post was taken down.

• Red-tagging of judge who ruled in favor of activists. Judge Monique Quisumbing-Ignacio of the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court was red-tagged in mid-March after dismissing a case filed against journalist Lady Ann Salem and trade unionist Rodrigo Esparago. A tarpaulin was put up at the corner of Shaw Boulevard and EDSA that thanked the judge for quickly releasing the two activists, and bore the CPP logo.

President Duterte said that he would provide protection for the judge if it was proven that she was indeed red-tagged. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque urged the public not to jump to conclusions that the judge was red-tagged, suggesting that opponents of the Duterte administration could also be responsible for the act, so as to put blame on the administration.

In response to this case of red-tagging and the increasing incidence of threats and acts of violence against lawyers and judges, the Supreme Court later issued a rare statement saying: “The Court condemns in the strongest sense, every instance where a lawyer is threatened or killed and where a judge is threatened and unfairly labeled. We do not and will not tolerate such acts that only perverse justice, defeat the rule of law, undermine the most basic of constitutional principles and speculate on the worth of human lives.’’ As of June 11, the Supreme Court was still waiting for the police to provide an update on its investigation of the incident.

• Red-tagging of judiciary and Senate employees’ unions. The unions in the Senate and the judiciary denied accusations by two government officials that they were communist front organizations.

In a Facebook post on April 5, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency Director General Alex Paul Monteagudo claimed that the Senate employees union, Senado, was manned by the activist group COURAGE (or the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees, the biggest alliance of labor unions in the government) and acted as the “eyes and ears” of communist organizations in their efforts “to hijack government plans and programs.”

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, who is part of the NTF-ELCAC, also issued a statement red-tagging the Judiciary Employees Association (JUDEA) and Supreme Court Employees Association (SCEA) because of their links to COURAGE. The unions asserted that their work was to better the conditions of workers and not in any way to overthrow the government, and warned that red-tagging would place their members’ lives, liberty and security at risk.

• Red-tagging of community pantries. In April 2021, a wave of community pantries started in Quezon City, spreading to other parts of Metro Manila and also the regions. This effort was much lauded by commentators, including government officials, and was largely supported by local government units. However, fears about red-tagging arose and affected operations when police visited several community pantries requesting information about the organizers and the groups they were affiliated with. Posts were shared on social media by the NTF-ELCAC and the Quezon City Police Department (though the latter later backtracked), linking community pantries with the communist movement. While PNP chief Gen. Eleazar said that there was no policy to profile community pantry organizers, and President Duterte was said to welcome the community pantry initiative, NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy made a statement alleging that communist groups were using some community pantries to further their aims of spreading propaganda, funding and recruitment. She pointed out that the slogan used by the first community pantry in Maginhawa Street, “Magbigay batay sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan (From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs),” was a philosophy of Karl Marx. Gen. Parlade admitted that the task force was checking the background of community pantry organizers to ensure that they had no further agenda beyond merely distributing food.

• “Zambales 11” lawyer red-tagged. Eleven youth activists from the League of Filipino Students (the “Zambales 11”) and their van driver were arrested for violating social distancing protocols while on their way to a Labor Day protest. According to the police, they had failed to maintain the mandated one-meter physical distancing inside the vehicle. Student and human rights groups slammed the arrests as an attempt to intimidate activists and journalists.

The lawyer who helped them to be released on bail, Atty. Carlos Castillo Jr., was later red-tagged when a Facebook post on the page “Lakbay Kapayapaan,” titled "’WAG NA LANG MAG-ABOGADO KUNG TERORISTA ANG TUTULUNGAN MO!!!" showed a video of CPP founder Jose Maria "Joma" Sison alongside a photo of Castillo. The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) condemned the unjust red-tagging and urged the NBI to investigate and take action in the case.

Anti-Terrorism Act in effect, in the face of resistance

• Arguments on constitutionality of the Anti-Terrorism Act heard in the Supreme Court. In February and May 2021, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the 37 petitions that had been filed questioning the constitutionality of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (ATA). Some of the aspects of the law contested by petitioners include its sanctioning of warrantless arrests and prolonged detention, unreasonable searches and seizures, intrusion into private communications and correspondence, curtailment of expression and assembly, denial of bail, the presumption of innocence and access to public information.

On the first day of oral arguments, a petition to intervene was filed by the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) on behalf of two Aetas, Japer Gurung and Junior Ramos, who were arrested by the military in 2020 and became the first persons charged under the ATA. According to the petition filed, the two Aetas were farmers and foragers. On August 21, 2020, they left their home with their families to ride a boat to a nearby evacuation center in Zambales. However, soldiers stopped them and they were arrested as NPA members trying to escape. During their detention, Gurung said they were tortured and asked to admit that they were members of the NPA.

However, during the Supreme Court hearings, Solicitor-General Jose Calida said that the Aeta petitions were withdrawing their petition and claimed that they had been forced into making it by the NUPL, which denied such an act. In any case, the Court dismissed the petition as the petitioners already had a pending case in a trial court.

• Threat made to reporter writing on case. Reporter Tetch Torrez-Tupaz of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, reporting on the petition filed by two Aetas (as did many other journalists), found herself on the receiving end of controversial remarks by Lt. Gen. Parlade, who accused her of sloppy reporting and of spreading propaganda. He suggested that she could be charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Opponents of the ATA said the incident grotesquely reinforced their concern that the ATA could be used against government critics to stifle legitimate dissent, and to clamp down on the press. Parlade later said he was sorry if he had frightened Torrez-Tupaz.

• Designation of terrorists by Anti-Terrorism Council. The Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) designated 29 individuals as “terrorists,” according to a resolution publicly released on May 13. Nineteen of these individuals were alleged leaders of the CPP-NPA, and ten others were from “local terrorist groups,” allegedly members of the Abu Sayyaf Group. The ATC said that it had “verified and validated information” that the 19 alleged CPP-NPA leaders were involved in “planning, preparing, facilitating, conspiring, and inciting the commission of terrorism and recruitment to and membership in a terrorist organization or a group organized for the purpose of terrorism.” Designation in this list would lead to freezing of assets but not arrests, and those on the list could file a petition to question the basis of the freeze order, or seek delisting.

Critics of the ATA said that the designation process was done without due process, with no clear standards or evidence presented. Several persons on the list had played public roles as consultants in the peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the CPP, and commentators said that their designation as terrorists after the peace talks failed would present an obstacle to any future peace negotiations between the CPP and the government.

Gathering of information on individuals with ties to labor or progressive groups

• Gathering of information on affiliations of government employees by the DILG and DepEd. On March 10, the DILG circulated a memorandum instructing its regional directors to identify which among their employees were members of the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE), a network of workers’ unions in government, and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), a public school teachers’ union. The memorandum referred to an “undisclosed and confidential meeting in which the department participated,” where “part of the discussion was the infiltration of several agencies of the government of known Communist Terrorist Group (CTG) front organization[s] such as [ACT] in the private and public schools and DepEd, and [COURAGE] in other government offices.” The list of employees was to be validated and submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Public Safety and Security of the DILG.

ACT and COURAGE slammed the directive as well as the red-tagging of their organizations and profiling of their members, saying that it “flagrantly trample[d]” on their freedom of association. However, the DILG defended the memo, saying that it was the agency’s obligation to check its employees’ affiliations according to civil service guidelines, that the affiliated employees were not being put on a “hit list,” and that they would merely be encouraged to stop their affiliation with the named groups.

In mid-April, DepEd issued a directive to its field offices to list down the names of those in their group who were members of ACT and the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC). An online survey was also conducted for this purpose. Responding to criticisms by the teachers’ groups alleging violation of their members’ constitutional rights, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said that identifying teachers’ affiliations was standard practice, as organizations that deal with the DepEd have to comply with standard requirements such as the submission of names of their officers and members.

• Police officer requested Calbayog court for list of lawyers in “communist” cases. On March 12, PNP intelligence officer Police Lt. Fernando Calabria sent a letter to the Calbayog Regional Trial Court requesting a list of lawyers representing “Communist Terrorist Group (CTG) personalities” in the court, which he would submit to “PNP higher offices.” He had been tasked to report on activities of communist groups in Calbayog City.

CHR spokesperson Atty. Jacqueline Ann de Guia said that this request was “unbecoming of a police officer; transcend[ed] all legal and statutory basis; and threaten[ed] the legal profession.” Lt. Calabria was later relieved from his post, and PNP Chief Eleazar apologized to members of the legal profession for “this reckless behavior.” He said his apology came with “an assurance to the judiciary and the members of the legal community that it is not and will never be the policy of the PNP to run after or even inflict harm on lawyers and members of the judiciary while performing their sworn duty.”

UP-DND pact unilaterally rescinded by DND

• In January 2021, the Department of National Defense (DND) unilaterally rescinded an agreement between the DND and the University of the Philippines (UP) concerning the conduct of military or police operations in UP campuses, which had been executed in 1989. The agreement had prohibited military and police forces from entering the UP campus premises without first notifying the UP administration, except in certain circumstances such as hot pursuit. However, in a letter dated January 15, 2021 addressed to UP President Danilo Concepcion, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that there was “ongoing clandestine recruitment inside UP campuses nationwide for membership in the CPP/NPA'' and that the DND-UP agreement was “being used by CPP/NPA recruiters and supporters as a shield.” He also said that a number of UP students had been identified as CPP-NPA members and some had been killed or captured by the authorities. AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Gilbert Gapay concurred that the agreement was “unfair” to the Filipino people and ran “contrary to public interest.”

Following the announcement, hundreds rallied on the UP Diliman campus, denouncing the abrogation of the agreement as a means to stifle both academic freedom and political dissent. Vice President Leni Robredo, one among many government officials and prominent personalities opposed to the move, said that the agreement had not stopped the authorities from enforcing the law within UP campuses, but merely required the giving of notice prior to police operations. She saw its abrogation not as a practical gesture but as a “symbolic one… designed to sow fear… discourage dissent… [and] silence criticism.”

Bills were filed both in the Senate and in the House seeking to institutionalize the rescinded DND-UP agreement, requiring security forces to give notice of any operations within UP campuses. The House Committee on Technical and Higher Education approved a substitute bill on June 2 that consolidated three other measures for the matter, and voted to send it to the chamber for deliberation. The Senate bill remains pending at the committee level.