“’Kala mo naman nalulugi ang mga kumpanya nila na bilyon-bilyon naman ang kinikita. These companies are posting billions in profits while ordinary Filipinos struggle to make ends meet,” pagpupuyos ni Zarate.
The NUPL said that FATF’s own recommendations on targeted financial sanctions and non-profit organizations have been weaponized “to suppress dissent and erode civic freedoms.”
“USC’s removal of TC office amid (the) students’ fearless inquiry on tuition and other school fees increase is a clear violation of the democratic rights of the students and its communities,” CEGP national spokesperson Brell Lacerna said.
The petitioners said Duterte has shown “gross disregard for ethical standards and the rule of law through his public admissions of leading a death squad, encouraging violence and gender-based abuse, fostering a culture of impunity, and by inciting the commission of extrajudicial killings.”
“Considering that the Supreme Court has already ruled that red-tagging threatens a person’s life, liberty and security,” added Palabay, “the series of inquiries being conducted by the CHR is an important step in coming up with a clear picture of how prevalent red-tagging is across the country and its detrimental effects on the conduct of human rights work, and what accountability mechanisms can be adopted to put a stop to it.”
The amount is staggering, Jean Encinas Franco, associate professor at the University of the Philippines’ Department of Political Science, told PCIJ. “It gives me a sense they are already using their own money,” she said. “Candidates cannot use their own money. When you have a stake in election spending, all the more you will be corrupt.”
Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar and Sen. Imee Marcos each had ads worth P1 billion before the CoC filing, based on published rate cards. It is not known if they received – and how much – discounts from media organizations that provided space for their advertisements.
“Marcos Jr.’s concepts of ‘peace,’ ‘consensus’ and ‘cooperation’ and his candidacy for a UNSC seat should be consistently challenged–all these for whom? Clearly, it is for his ruling clique and for the interests of the US and its allies,” Palabay said.
“The NUPL denounces the reported directive as a glaring example of McCarthyism. Like the ideological witch hunts of the past, these measures target individuals based solely on suspicion and ideological profiling, and unverified allegations,” it said in a statement.
“The practice of filing trumped up charges of ‘illegal assembly’ must stop. Marching to Mendiola to denounce injustice should not be criminalized,” Makabayan said.
