(We yield this space to this unity statement of academics against the recent attacks on and killings of activists. – Ed.)
WE STAND united against extrajudicial killings and mass arrests of activists on fabricated charges.
Killings and mass arrests of dissenters have no place in a country that considers itself as democratic.
We stand united against the attacks on our right to organization and right to express dissent.
The Philippine Constitution upholds the right to organization and the right to express dissent as essential elements of nation-building. These rights are also enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
We stand united against government profiling, and/or red-tagging and/or terrorist-tagging of lawyers, teachers, unionists, peasants, workers – activists – and activist organizations.
Rather than waste our precious human and financial resources on such unlawful acts which can be weaponized to silence dissent or even “neutralize” (kill) dissenters, the Philippine government should channel all its energies and resources into pandemic response – especially on contact tracing, mass testing, and mass vaccination, and additional cash aid for both poor and middle-class families hit hardest by the crisis that the pandemic partly caused.
We call upon the International Criminal Court to include all these recent attacks in their Philippines-related investigations.
We call upon the Philippine Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order on the Terror Law which has only emboldened tyrannical forces to repress and kill dissent.
We call upon the Philippine Congress and Senate to investigate all these recent attacks and consequently accelerate the passage of stronger laws to protect human rights.
We call upon the Filipino people and all freedom-loving people worldwide to raise our collective voice against the dark forces that threaten to obliterate what is left of our fragile democracy.
Stop the killings! Stop the attacks!
Stop profiling! Stop red-tagging! Stop terrorist-tagging!
Rechannel government resources into pandemic response!
