Media Quote
Responding to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s legislative priorities presented during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), Amnesty International Philippines Section Director, Butch Olano, said:
“In order to begin to turn the tide on the overwhelming impunity committed under the previous administration, one priority that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should focus on is restoring respect for human rights. Amnesty International has seen an erosion of our basic freedoms in the last six years, yet President Marcos Jr. failed to include critical human rights issues in his first State of the Nation Address.”
His lack of commitment to human rights and justice shows that he is not at all interested in ending the catastrophic effects brought about by years of human rights violations and the absence of accountability in government.
Butch Olano, Section Director
“His lack of commitment to human rights and justice shows that he is not at all interested in ending the catastrophic effects brought about by years of human rights violations and the absence of accountability in government. Without prioritizing any legislation or policy on extrajudicial executions and associated violations under the war on drugs, the crackdown on media and human rights defenders, and the weak approach to justice in the country, President Marcos Jr. only perpetuates the legacy of abuses and violations committed both under his father and Rodrigo Duterte’s regime.”
“If anything, President Marcos Jr.’s first SONA is yet another indication of how his administration continues to dismiss human rights. During the campaign for the May 2022 elections, he contradicted grave violations during martial law that was presided over by his father despite overwhelming evidence. Ahead of his address, police deployed over 20,000 troops in Metro Manila and declared Commonwealth Avenue a ‘no-rally zone’ supposedly to secure the SONA, despite the right to protest being a fundamental human right.”
“We reiterate our recommendations in Amnesty International’s 8-Point Human Rights Agenda and continues to call on President Marcos Jr. to build a momentum around changes that the country needs in order to move forward from a very dark time for us and our human rights.”