Philippines 'crackdown' on activists 'unacceptable', says HRW

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday condemned the government's "crackdown" on political activists following the "highly questionable arrests" of six activists and a journalist all in one day.

Police arrested trade unionists Dennise Velasco, Rodrigo Esparago, Romina Astudillo, Mark Ryan Cruz, Joel Demate and Jaymie Gregorio Jr., and journalist Lady Ann Salem on Thursday, International Human Rights Day.

"There is plenty of room for suspicion about police actions," HRW deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said. He said HRW has previously documented cases of police planting evidence in the government's campaign against illegal drugs.

"There is also a damning history of such underhanded police actions against political activists that correctly arouse suspicions," he said in a statement.

"It is outrageous and unacceptable that the Philippines government is cracking down on political activists. It should be lost on no one that the police conducted these raids and arrests on international Human Rights Day," he said.

Authorities have stood by the legitimacy of the arrests.

Robertson said the timing of the arrests show the Duterte government's "contemptuous attitude toward human rights and its confrontational stance against dissenters and political activists."

Progressive groups have called out what they say is the police's "modus operandi": planting guns and explosives in activists' homes and using the supposed discovery of the weapons during court-authorized searches to make arrests.

Human rights watchdog Karapatan said most of over 600 "political prisoners" in the country, including activists Amanda Echanis and Reina Mae Nasino, face "fabricated" charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. -NB, GMA News