(Bangkok) – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took little action in 2025 to address the persistent harassment, threats, and killings of critics of the government by security forces, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026. While the administration’s transfer of former President Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his alleged role in “war on drugs” killings was a historic step for accountability, drug-related killings continue with impunity.
“President Marcos should move beyond rhetoric and take concrete measures to improve human rights in the Philippines,” said Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Killings and other abuses by security forces will persist unless the government thoroughly investigates and prosecutes those responsible, regardless of their rank or position.”
In the 529-page World Report 2026, its 36th edition, Human Rights Watch reviewed human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In his introductory essay, Executive Director Philippe Bolopion writes that breaking the authoritarian wave sweeping the world is the challenge of a generation. With the human rights system under unprecedented threat from the Trump administration and other global powers, Bolopion calls on rights-respecting democracies and civil society to build a strategic alliance to defend fundamental freedoms.
- Duterte was arrested on charges of the crime against humanity of murder related to extrajudicial killings while he was Davao City mayor and the Philippine president. ICC judges will hear evidence to decide whether to confirm the charges against Duterte and send him to trial.
- Domestic accountability for killings by police in the “war on drugs” remained inadequate, with only one successful prosecution in 2025, the September conviction of a police colonel for homicide in Baguio City.
- Targeted killings by hired assassins or “death squads” of journalists, activists, and politicians occurred in Manila and other urban areas throughout the year. On June 23, a hooded gunman shot dead Ali Macalintal, a transgender rights activist who worked as a radio commentator on the southern island of Mindanao.
- “Red-tagging”—government harassment, intimidation, and threats against individuals and organizations accused of being members or sympathizers of the communist insurgency—was used to target leftist activists, land rights defenders, labor leaders, and young human rights defenders, and had a chilling effect on freedom of expression and association.
The Marcos administration should ensure that the Philippines, which chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2026, promotes human rights in the region as well as addresses rights issues domestically, Human Rights Watch said.
