Human rights in the Philippines are protected by the Constitution and international law, but significant challenges remain, particularly regarding extrajudicial killings, freedom of expression, and the treatment of activists. While the law provides for rights like freedom of speech, assembly, and religion, recent reports highlight persistent issues with accountability for unlawful killings, the continuation of "red-tagging," and violence against journalists and human rights defenders.
The concept and practice of human rights within the Philippines is defined by Article III of the Philippine Constitution, as well as the United Nations' International Bill of Human Rights, to which the Philippines is a signatory.
Concept
The concept of "human rights," in the context of the Philippines, pertains mainly (but is not limited) to the civil and political rights of a person living in the Philippines.
Human rights are a justified set of claims that set moral standards to members of the human race, not exclusive to a specific community or citizenship. Membership in the human race is the sole qualification to obtain these rights. Human rights, unlike area-specific conventions of international laws (e.g. European Convention on Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), are universally justifiable as it pertains to the entire human race, regardless of geographical location.
Human rights issues
Extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances
Desaparecidos
Torture Numerous sources had reported that torture was being practiced by the Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army, police and other security forces.
The Philippines enacted the Anti-Torture Law or Republic Act No. 9745 in 2009, prohibiting and criminalizing torture and other forms of ill-treatment against persons deprived of liberty. The first person to be convicted for torture under the law was Angeles City police officer Jerick Dee Jimenez in March 2016. As of 2024, there have been four convictions for violations of the Anti-Torture Law, after 3 police officers were sentenced for committing acts of torture in Koronadal City.
Torture during the Marcos dictatorship
Labor
The Labor Code of the Philippines is the legal code governing employment practices and labor relations in the Philippines. The Labor Code stipulates standards in terms of wages and monetary benefits, hours of work, leave, rest days, holiday pays, and benefits, among others. The Labor Code sets the rules for hiring and firing of private employees; the conditions of work including maximum work hours and overtime; employee benefits such as holiday pay, thirteenth-month pay and retirement pay; and the guidelines in the organization and membership in labor unions as well as in collective bargaining. The prevailing labor code allows the typical working hour to be 8 hours a day, i.e. 48 hours a week with the provision that at least a day should be allowed to the workers as weekly off. The right to self-organization of a union is recognized, as is the right of a union to strike and to insist on a closed shop.
Indigenous peoples' rights
The Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act The Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997 recognized and promoted the rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICC/IPs) enumerated within the framework of the Constitution. It committed the State to recognize and promote the rights of ICCs/IPs to: Protect the rights of ICCs/IPs to their ancestral domains to ensure their economic, social and cultural well-being and shall recognize the applicability of customary laws governing property rights or relations in determining the ownership and extent of ancestral domain; Recognize, respect and protect the rights of ICCs/IPs to preserve and develop their cultures, traditions and institutions. It shall consider these rights in the formulation of national laws and policies; Guarantee that members of the ICCs/IPs regardless of sex, shall equally enjoy the full measure of human rights and freedoms without distinction or discrimination; Take measures, with the participation of the ICCs/IPs concerned, to protect their rights and guarantee respect for their cultural integrity, and to ensure that members of the ICCs/IPs benefit on an equal footing from the rights and opportunities which national laws and regulations grant to other members of the population. It declared that the State recognizes its obligations to respond to the strong expression of the ICCs/IPs for cultural integrity by assuring maximum ICC/IP participation in the direction of education, health, as well as other services of ICCs/IPs, in order to render such services more responsive to the needs and desires of these communities.
Transnational advocacy There are international advocacy groups that aim to promote the causes of environmental and human rights defenders in Mindanao, Philippines. Activism carried out by transnational organizations, which may be described as ‘participatory’, may solicit engagement from local actors, stakeholders, and poor members of communities and include them all in policymaking decisions. Regarding the Lumad, human rights defenders wish to bring attention to Indigenous social issues. According to Duraippah et al., ideal participation is reached when the principles of transparency and empowerment—through the education of transnational actors through local actors—emphasize the needs of Indigenous peoples.
Social power illustrates the exclusion of Lumad people from political decisions, which in turn, perpetuates existing human rights issues.Katz, Michael. What Kind of Problem is Poverty? The Archaeology of an Idea. Territories of Poverty: Rethinking North and South (2015). Power in this case is an umbrella term since social power is the real desire in order to pursue true control over livelihoods and the rules that govern them. , social power was not in the hands of Indigenous peoples, therefore, online organizing serves to arm individuals in their community organizing network with education to balance with the inherent power conflict.Keck, Margaret E., and Kathryn Sikkink. "Transnational advocacy networks in the movement society." The social movement society: Contentious politics for a new century (1998): 217-238.
Lumad peoples rely on the natural resources on their ancestral lands for their livelihoods; they are therefore deprived of means to support themselves and their families when they are displaced or forced to evacuate. Fundraising by advocacy groups serve to support Lumad communities and their highest form of protest.
Indigenous land rights
Philippine Indigenous peoples are granted rights to their ancestral domain under the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act. Under the law, ancestral domain belongs to all generations and includes its physical environment, including the spiritual and cultural bonds sites. The law also recognizes Indigenous peoples' rights to the natural resources within the ancestral domain. The 2022 State of the Indigenous Peoples Address Report by Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center states that 1.25 million hectares of Indigenous lands are threatened by destructive projects that may cause massive ecological disturbance including biodiversity loss and pollution.
Impunity Human rights groups, such as Karapatan, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, have pointed to a culture of impunity as an issue that allows human rights violations to continue in the Philippines.
The United Nations Human Rights Office said that the Philippines needs to address impunity and barriers to seeking justice. It said that the Philippine drug war and government measures against national security threats lead to human rights abuses, such as the vilification of dissent, arbitrary arrest and detention, and extrajudicial killings.
Crimes against humanity
Rodrigo Duterte is facing charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for killings in the Philippine drug war while he was President of the Philippines. Human rights group Karapatan estimates that 30,000 killings are attributed to the drug war from 2016 to 2022. Though the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute effective March 16, 2019, the Supreme Court of the Philippines, ruled that the Philippines still has an obligation to cooperate in the ICC proceedings. Duterte was arrested on March 11, 2025, by the Philippine National Police and Interpol after a warrant was issued by the ICC.
Stakeholder organizations
Government
Commission on Human Rights The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is an independent office created by Section 18, Article XIII of the Philippine Constitution, with the primary function of investigating all forms of human rights violations involving civil and political rights in the Philippines. The commission is composed of a chairperson and four members, majority of which must be lawyers under the constitution.
The commission is empowered to investigate human rights violations involving civil and political rights, adopt rules of procedure and issue contempt citations, provide legal measures for the protection of human rights in the Philippines, and several other powers in relation to the protection of human rights.
Programs The CHR is in charge of the following programs; Human Rights Protection Program The Human Rights Protection Program implemented the Legal and Investigation Office which provides legal aid and counseling services; conducts monitoring of cases/complaints with concerned agencies; conducts rights based public inquiry on issues and concerns of marginalized and disadvantage sectors; and conducts studies to establish certain human rights conditions/situations affecting human development for the adoption of policies, programs and measures for the promotion of human rights. The Legal and Investigation Office also provides appropriate human rights investigative interventions; medico-legal services; conducts alternative dispute resolution of cases thru mediation; quick reaction activities; fact finding missions; rights based situation tracking and rights based investigative monitoring. The Human Rights Education Teaching Exemplars The CHR established linkages and collaboration efforts with the Department of Education with this effort, the two agencies forged a Joint of Declaration of Undertaking (JDU) in 1992 and a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in 1996 which provided development of human rights education curriculum for integration across the two levels of education. To implement the main provision of the Memorandum of Agreement, a joint project was undertaken entitled: Writing Workshop in the Development of Human Rights Education Teaching Exemplars for the Elementary and the Secondary Levels. Human Rights Linkages Development and Strategic Planning The CHR established a Legislative and Program Division which is in charge of monitoring bills with human rights implications filed in Congress and coordinating in the preparation of the CHRP position on proposed measures. The LPD has participated in almost all committee hearings and Technical Working Group meetings in both houses of Congress and in such other fora on matters with human rights implications. Right to Development Program. A system of developing and monitoring rights-based programs and measures across institutions aimed at creating enabling environment for poverty reduction linked with the nine components of good governance as follows: Electoral and Political Reforms, Right to Development, Judicial Reform, Anti-Corruption, Governance Review, Civil Service & Economic Management, Globalization and Corporate Citizenship, Decentralization & Local Governance.
Department of Justice