News

'Hanggang kailan?' Moms of Duterte drug war victims find hope after Palparan conviction

Inday Espina-Varona
Updated as of Sep 18 12:56 PM

Mothers of drug war victims have found a sliver of hope after a Malolos regional trial court sentenced former Army general Jovito Palparan and 2 other military officers to life imprisonment for abduction and illegal detention. Read more »

Under Duterte, Philippines ranked Asia's most dangerous country for environment defenders

Inday Espina-Varona
Updated as of Jul 25 10:05 AM

President Rodrigo Duterte campaigned with a promise to halt environmental destruction and protect besieged indigenous communities. But he enters his third year in power with the Philippines still ranked as Asia’s most dangerous for environmental defenders. Read more »

As Duterte offers dialogue, church leaders bare detention of Christian missionary

Inday Espina-Varona
Updated as of Jun 28 03:32 AM

They expressed serious concern over the state crackdown on foreign missionaries helping human rights organizations. Read more »

OPINION: New anti-terror measure legislates de facto tyranny

Inday Espina-Varona
Posted at Jun 25 10:33 PM

A working draft of legislation seeking to strengthen the Philippines’ anti-terror legislation expands the definition of “terrorism” while dropping the burden of proof for state agents. Read more »

OPINION: Boracay highlights Duterte’s plans for indigenous homelands

Inday Espina-Varona -- scaRRedCat
Posted at Jun 14 05:21 PM

If the long history of indigenous land sacrificed in Duterte’s home island of Mindanao is any gauge, the fate of Boracay will likely be greater environmental destruction or the rich lording it over as the original residents get poorer. Read more »

Mga banat ni Duterte sa kababaihan, posibleng 'labag' sa batas: propesor

ABS-CBN News
Updated as of May 26 01:56 AM

Nag-post ng mga retrato at video ang netizens bilang pagkondena sa misogyny o sexism matapos sabihin ng Pangulo na ayaw niyang magtalaga ng babae para sa isang mataas na posisyon. Read more »

OPINION: Why Mayo Uno 2018 is historic

Inday Espina-Varona -- scaRRedcat
Posted at Apr 30 04:02 PM

A confluence of broken promises and tragedies are poised to make Labor Day 2018 a watershed in Philippine protest history. Read more »

OPINION: Duterte gov't penchant for ‘golpe’ traps Filipino workers in Kuwait

Inday Espina-Varona -- scaRRedcat
Posted at Apr 26 05:34 PM

On the same day the Duterte administration cancelled the missionary visa of an Australian nun known for her human rights advocacy, Kuwait expelled the Philippine ambassador for illegal actions justified as defense of human rights. Read more »

Veterans of Chico River Dam struggle join grandkids’ generation in new fight

Inday Espina-Varona
Posted at Apr 23 07:00 PM

BAGUIO CITY -- Lakay Banag Sinumlag remembers losing friends and mentors four decades ago as tribes of the lush, rugged Cordillera region in the main Philippines island of Luzon battled the army of dictator Ferdinand Marcos to prevent construction of the Chico River dam. Read more »

OPINION: 'Chief Justice’s fight is our fight,' say kin of Duterte drug war victims

Inday Espina-Varona -- scaRRedcat
Posted at Apr 16 07:10 PM

The High Court now stands at the edge of a cliff, says the mother of one of the victims of the Duterte administration's war on drugs.  Read more »

Secrecy over PNP ‘nanlaban’ records hampering search for justice of families

Inday Espina-Varona
Updated as of Mar 08 07:35 PM

The Duterte government’s insistence on keeping secret records of thousands of police operations that ended up with dead suspects is major proof of extra-judicial killings (EJKs), according to different groups of lawyers. Read more »

Justices' goal of insulating SC from toxic politics a pipe dream

Inday Espina Varona, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Mar 06 11:05 AM

The Supreme Court's decision sends an earth-shaking message: the court of last recourse has decided expediency trounces that most basic of Constitutional tenets: that everyone is considered innocent unless found guilty (in this case, by a Senate impeachment court). Read more »

OPINION: Crackdown on media reeks of fear

Inday Espina Varona, ABS-CBN News
Updated as of Feb 23 07:26 AM

Mocha Uson insisted Malacanang’s ban on Pia Ranada has no bearing on press freedom. She leaves out one of the most important duties of a journalist – to ask the tough questions. Read more »

Duterte vision of federalism thinly disguised dictatorship

Inday Espina-Varona — scaRRedcat
Posted at Jan 17 04:54 PM

Forget Duterte’s campaign pledge for an inclusive constitutional convention. Cha-cha allows a few hundred legislators to decide on the fate of the nation -- the height of self-interest as they reward themselves with tax exemptions for top-tier government officials, the President included, and pave the way for extended terms of office. Read more »

Lake Sebu Lumad massacre followed visit of barangay captain

Inday Espina-Varona
Posted at Dec 16 02:51 AM

Seven of the slain and all the missing were all engaged in harvest and planting when the “soldiers came blackened the hills.” Read more »

OPINION: Night falls on PH's fragile democracy

Inday Espina-Varona — scaRRedcat
Posted at Dec 13 05:16 PM

Darkness has fallen. We can expect nothing from this government. As in that long Marcos night, Filipinos will just have to fall back on their courage and commitment to democracy and freedom. Read more »

Int'l women journalists urge ASEAN to uphold press freedom

Inday Espina-Varona, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Nov 09 04:35 PM

An international group of women journalists urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Thursday (Nov 9) to uphold media freedom and halt attacks, including those initiated by state proxies. Read more »

BLOG: Left out in the cold

Inday Espina-Varona
Posted at Nov 07 09:53 PM

Where were the direct victims of Duterte's bloody campaign, the survivors and the families of the slain?  Read more »

No EJKs? Duterte claim fails any test, say lawyers

Inday Espina-Varona
Posted at Nov 02 09:13 PM

Manlaban, a new alliance of lawyers against extra-judicial killings and other human rights violations, rejects the Philippine government’s claim of zero extra-judicial killings despite the death of thousands in President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war. Read more »

Lawyers launch 'Manlaban' to fight EJKs

Inday Espina-Varona, ABS-CBN News
Updated as of Nov 02 06:36 PM

MANILA (UPDATED) - Constitutionalists, human rights lawyers and several associations of law students launched on Thursday the legal alliance "Manlaban" to coordinate different legal challenges to extra-judicial killings (EJKs) and other human rights violations under President Rodrigo Duterte. Read more »