Global report highlights Filipino resistance to rights violations

MANILA – The Filipino people’s resistance against anomalous flood control projects, the impunity in Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal drug campaign, and police violence are highlighted in the 2026 Civil Society Report by the global alliance CIVICUS.

The report was released on March 12 in the context of the global crisis brought about by various conflicts.

The annual flagship report draws from over 250 interviews with civil society activists and experts from 110 countries.

“What stands out from the past year is how many people are choosing courage over compliance,” CIVICUS Secretary General Mandeep Tiwana said.

In the Philippines, disasters were identified as one of the triggers which drove “Gen Z-led” protests.

“Severe storms in the Philippines made it impossible to ignore how useless many flood control projects were, despite vast sums supposedly spent on them,” the report read, emphasizing that the protest spreads beyond the Gen Z sphere including farmers, church groups, healthcare workers, and even teachers.

Read: Corruption as human rights anomaly

Gen Z-led protests also appeared in other countries including Bulgaria, Greece, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Morocco, Nepal, North Macedonia, Serbia, Peru, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo and Turkey.

“Pessimism serves authoritarians and oligarchs,” said Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS editor-in-chief and an author of the report, calling on established civil society to learn from the movements and prioritize connections with communities over high-level diplomacy.

The report also noted that civil society, particularly women-led groups, played a vital role in collecting evidence and documentation of killings that transpired during the so-called “war on drugs” of Duterte.

Duterte is currently detained in The Hague in the Netherlands for the alleged crimes against humanity of murder and attempted murder before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I recently concluded the confirmation of charges hearing last February 27 and is expected to issue a decision within 60 days.

The chamber could confirm the charges and proceed to trial, decline to confirm the charges, or adjourn the hearing and request the prosecutor to conduct further investigation.

Read: Collective action of drug war families marks Duterte’s first year in ICC

The response to people’s resistance in almost all countries cited in the global report has been state violence.

“In many cases, authoritarian governments refused to concede any demands…Police in the Philippines beat, humiliated and psychologically tortured protesters in custody,” the report read.

Bulatlat closely followed the stories of police violence in the Philippines, especially in last year’s major anti-corruption protest.

More than 200 individuals were unlawfully arrested, 91 of them were children. Almost 100 are currently facing sedition complaints before the Department of Justice.

Read: Government lies about the violence in Mendiola protest

“Wherever anti-rights forces try to deny people their agency or bully them into submission, principled resistance is rising to meet them. They are looking the corrupt and the powerful in the face and refusing to fall silent,” Tiwana added.

The global report showed that even in the most repressive environment where state violence is rife, the people have taken to the streets because their governments and economies have fundamentally failed them.

“Whatever progress the future holds will come when people join together to refuse to accept the unacceptable,” said Inés M. Pousadela, CIVICUS head of research and analysis. (RTS, RVO)

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