For peasant leader Lino Baez, it’s like “living with a target on your head.” Many become alienated from families and friends. “That is the danger of going after organizations.”This is also why human rights workers find themselves in the thick of the government’s take-no-prisoners ideological crackdown. ADVERTISEMENTLeft politics“The defense and promotion of human rights are considered left politics anywhere in the world, especially here in the Philippines,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of rights group Karapatan. A nursing major from Davao, Apiag said he took up human rights work after seeing the sorry plight of far-flung communities with no access to basic social services. Then he was slapped with attempted murder charges twice last year supposedly for engaging the military in separate encounters in Davao, prompting him to seek help from the Commission on Human Rights.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer May 16, 2021 20:39 UTC