Bulatlat News
By DANIELA MAURICIO and JADE ABERIN
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Various human rights groups said the human rights situation has not improved under the Marcos Jr. administration, following his recent State of the Nation address where there was no mention of it.
“It is far more important to detect the hidden messages behind Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s third State of the Nation Address (SONA) rather than be deluded into believing that it was all about banishing POGO from our shores and strong rhetoric on the Philippines’ claims on the West Philippine Sea,” said human rights group Karapatan.
Groups have earlier called out Marcos Jr. over his silence on burning issues of the day, including the human rights situation in the country.
Karapatan said that while there was no mention of the military modernization, the Armed Forces of the Philippines acquired attack helicopters and heavy weapons, which, the group said, are being used to “indiscriminately bomb and launch artillery strikes against civilian communities, wreaking havoc on their livelihoods and disrupting their economic activities.”
The group recorded 105 cases of extrajudicial killings from July 2022 to June 2024. Out of 105 cases, 11 cases were recorded from January to May 2024.
Drug-related killings have continued.
In his State of the Nation Address (SONA), Ferdinand Marcos Jr. claimed that killing is not part of his administration’s anti-drug campaign. “On the fight against dangerous drugs, our bloodless war on dangerous drugs adheres, and will continue to adhere, to the established ‘8 Es’ of an effective anti-illegal drugs strategy,” Marcos said. “Extermination was never one of them,” he added.
The University of the Philippines’ Dahas project, however, reported 342 casualties or 0.9 deaths per day, from July 1, 2022, and June 20, 2023. This is higher compared to the daily average of 0.8 deaths during the Duterte administration.
“Into the two years of the Marcos Jr. administration, human rights violations continue, a stark opposite of claims by the President that the human rights situation in the country is better under its watch,” Karapatan said.
Meanwhile, the international human rights group Human Rights Watch encouraged the European Union community to “remain focused on the situation on the ground, and not on the rhetoric or vague promises by the administration.”
The HRW cited a U.S. State Department report that noted how there were “no significant changes in the human rights situation in the Philippines during the year.” (JJE, RVO) 
