News Roundup 05 June 2020
Jun 05, 2020 • 3 min Read
CHR asks gov’t to act on UN findings on human rights situation in Philippines | PHILSTAR.COM – The Commission of Human Rights called on the government to acknowledge and address the concerns of a United Nations office on the human rights situation in the country. In a report released Thursday, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs has unleashed “widespread and systemic killing” of thousands of alleged drug personalities with “near impunity.” The UN rights office also highlighted in its report that vilification of dissent and attacks against perceived critics of the government are being “increasingly institutionalized and normalized in ways that will be very difficult to reverse.” In a statement Friday, the country’s national human rights institution urged the government to address the UN rights office’s observations with definitive steps necessary to establish transparency and accountability.
Negros bishops to terror bill backers: It will be on your conscience | INQUIRER.NET – Two Catholic bishops have added their voices to an already loud criticism of the new anti-terror bill that is now on President Rodrigo Duterte’s table for signing into law, saying they see it as a way to stifle dissent. Bishop Patricio Buzon of Bacolod said while he recognized the mandate of the government to secure its people against acts of terrorism, it should do so without sacrificing human rights. “The crafting of this draconian piece of legislation is an assault to our right to be consulted on matters of state policies that gravely impact the lives of our people and democracy,” he said. Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, of San Carlos, said the “terror bill,” when signed by Duterte into law, will be like “the winnowing fan that will separate the grain from the chaff”. “It will unmask who the true defenders of human rights and of the poor are and who are not as well as who will steadfastly proclaim the truth ‘in season or out of season’ and continue our Church’s prophetic mission and who will be silenced,” he said. “We shall put the burden of its consequences on the consciences of its authors and those who did nothing,” said Alminaza.
De Lima files bill to strengthen drive vs. illegal recruitment | Manila Bulletin – Detained Senator Leila de Lima is now pushing for a measure that seeks to strengthen the country’s anti-illegal recruitment policies by ensuring that two persons who conspired with one another to carry out the crime would already be meted the penalty for large-scale illegal recruitment. In filing Senate Bill No. 1466, De Lima said it is necessary to address the injustice experienced by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the hands of illegal recruiters by amending certain provisions in the country’s Labor Code and Republic Act No. 8042, or the “Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.” Under the current laws, de Lima noted that the minimum number of perpetrators that qualify for illegal recruitment is at least three.
Number of jobless Filipinos highest since 2005 | The Manila Times – THE country’s unemployment rate rose to 17.3 percent in April, the highest recorded since the 8.4 percent in April 2005, mainly due to the lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said. Results of the statistics agency’s latest Labor Force Survey showed that April’s figure rose significantly from the 5.3 percent recorded in January and the 5.1 percent posted in April last year. National Statistician Dennis Claire Mapa said the unemployment rate was equivalent to an estimated 7.3 million out-of-work individuals, higher than the 2.3 million in the same month in 2019.
