Cyberlibel and Misuse of Data Privacy Law: Reporter Arrested, Researcher Charged; CIVICUS: Philippines Tightens Grip on Dissent; Oil Price Hikes Roil the Philippines, Violate Rights
03/12/2026: The latest from Rights Report Philippines
He Tried to Correct the Record. He’s Looking at 12 Years in Prison Instead.
Lokalpedia founder John Sherwin Felix challenges a cyberlibel case filed against him over his critique of a government-funded book on regional cuisine. The case, his supporters argue, violates freedom of expression.
Arrested, Charged, Red-Tagged: Philippines Tightens Grip on Dissent
A new CIVICUS report documents a sweeping pattern of criminalization, torture, fabricated charges, and red-tagging against peaceful protesters, human rights defenders, journalists, and land rights activists across the Philippines.
Arrest of DZRH Reporter Raises Alarm Over Misuse of Data Privacy Law Against Journalists
Misael Gonzales Jr., a reporter for DZRH, was arrested after a Manila councilor filed a case against him for allegedly violating the Data Privacy Act for reporting on an arrest warrant earlier issued against the councilor for allegedly sexually abusing a child.
Oil Price Hikes Violate Your Rights. Here’s How.
What deregulation does, structurally and predictably, is erode the conditions necessary for those rights to be fulfilled — not through a single dramatic act, but through a slow, compounding cascade.
Oil, Power, and the Politics of Deregulation in the Philippines
When pricing systems deepen poverty, they implicate the state’s duty to protect, particularly when the state created those systems.
