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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. did not set any policy to undo his predecessor’s brutal campaign against illegal drugs during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 25.
He was also mum on other major issues that reform advocates wanted him to address during his first SONA— attacks on press freedom, red-tagging and killings of journalists and activists, and disinformation.
It wasn’t surprising that Marcos did not discuss human rights issues, said Human Rights Watch senior Philippines researcher Carlos Conde, but “it doesn’t make it less disappointing.”
“This was a chance for him to address the one singular issue that has dogged him and his family, and he chose instead to ignore it. He squandered an opportunity to do right by the Filipino people — to take the first step towards national healing and true unity,” Conde said.
Conde is concerned that the impunity will continue. “A president who chooses to disregard human rights issues in his most impt policy speech is more likely to violate the human rights of his people,” he said.
“This also means accountability for past abuses is not going to happen. By not even acknowledging these Hr issues, Mr Marcos not only wishes them away — he is less likely to hold abusers accountable. His silence about human rights is loud and clear: abusers will not be punished and it will be business as usual.
Jonathan de Santos, chair of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, said Marcos should have addressed attacks against the media.
Up to the very last week of the Duterte administration, a journalist was killed. Marcos was already president when a court upheld the libel conviction of Rappler journalists Maria Ressa and Reynaldo Santos and when the National Telecommunications Commission blocked the web sites of alternative media organizations.
“Wala pa naman kasing outright policy na sinabi ang Palasyo o Office of the Press Secretary on how they’re dealing with the media,” de Santos said.
There are reasons to be concerned, De Santos said, because of instances when reporters were ignored by administration officials during press conferences.
De Santos said he is also waiting for the implementing guidelines for the accreditation of vloggers and bloggers who want to cover government events, concerned that they would be given preferential treatment over journalists.
He said he’s hopeful that the Marcos administration would be more open to the media, even if “we haven’t seen indications of it being that way or it being stricter than the Duterte administration yet.”
Meanwhile, University of the Philippines associate professor Fatima Gaw said it will be unlikely for the Marcos administration to address disinformation because it has become a “political strategy” that serves some officials.
The previous 18th Congress held hearings to understand the problem of disinformation.
“If they do push for the interventions to actually identify accountabilities, who should be charged or who shouldn’t be, then the risk is that they’re going to politicize it, use it as a political apparatus for them just to ward dissent,” Gaw said.
Duterte’s war on drugs killed innocent victims including children, leaving their families devastated emotionally and oftentimes financially.
The government reported at least 6,252 deaths at the hands of police during anti-illegal drug operations between July 2016 and May 31, 2022. But human-rights groups believe that the actual number could reach as high as 30,000 including victims of vigilante-style killings.
(READ: The Desaparecidos of Duterte’s Drug War and Drug war victims are exhumed and cremated as grave leases expire. One mother wants another way)
The Philippines ranked 147th out of 180 countries for press freedom, down nine spots from 2021, in a 2022 index of the Reporters Without Borders.
Marcos was called to empower the Commission on Human Rights. He has not appointed a chairman, however.
He was also urged to rejoin the International Criminal Court (ICC) and resume engagements with the European Union, the United States Government, the UN Human Rights Council, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. He did not mention these organizations during his SONA speech. END