Call for solidarity with PDG’s activists

New false accusations against human rights and environmental activists in the Philippines.

On May 2, 2024, employees and volunteers of the Filipino NGO PDG (Paghida-et sa Kauswagan), a partner of Quinoa since 1993, were accused of financing terrorism actions. These scandalous and unfounded allegations are extremely dangerous for the accused and their families, and pose an existential threat to PDG as an organization.

Red-tagging

This is not the first attack against PDG. Over the years, the organization has regularly been the subject of threats, harassment and intimidation for simply defending, through peaceful means, the cause of those whose rights are violated… This practice, called ” red-tagging” – well known to human rights defenders – has been used for decades by the government. It consists of publicly accusing people and organizations of belonging to – or supporting – the New People’s Army (NPA) affiliated with the Philippine Communist Party. This is how many organizations, activists, journalists, political leaders are reduced to silence through acts of intimidation, torture and execution. It was this practice that led to the brutal assassination of PDG director, lawyer Benjamin Ramos, on November 6, 2018. A murder for which no justice was served.

Although condemned by United Nations rapporteurs, red tagging continues to be carried out without any impunity. The Philippines is the deadliest country for environmental activists, as human rights organizations keep reminding us. This must stop!

We call on the Government of the Philippines to:

Immediately drop these unfounded accusations against PDG;
Stop using this law to target and attempt to silence members of other civil society organizations through false allegations;
End state-sponsored attacks and assassinations;
Conduct an impartial investigation into all cases of blacklisting and defamation of members of civil society organizations;
End the state of emergency in Negros and revoke Executive Order 70 and Memorandum 32, the state policies behind the attacks on development workers and human rights defenders in Negros.

How to act?

The situation is critical, PDG and the accused activists need support, visibility and protection from international authorities. We call for action!

Talk about it to those around you, sign the Quinoa declaration (below). If you can, contribute to the solidarity fund (info below) for the legal costs of the 5 people accused in this case.