The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Government of the Philippines on 4 April 2025. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. The Government acknowledged receipt of the communication on 16 April 2025. If more replies are received, they will be posted on the UN Special Procedures communications database.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the alleged surveillance and harassment since 2023 of human rights defenders working to combat climate change and enact a just transition in the Cebu Province in the Philippines.
The Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) was formed by a coalition of Filipino organisations in July 2009, in the aftermath of the 13th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Bali, Indonesia in 2007. The PMCJ advocates for ambitious emission reductions, the transition away from the use of fossil fuels for energy production, particularly coal, and people-centred development. It works on education and empowerment at the grassroots level in the Philippines and also engages judicial mechanisms. PMCJ-Cebu is a chapter of the organisation based in Cebu City, in the Central Visayas region.
ALLEGATIONS
On 27 February 2025, at approximately midnight, an unidentified man attempted to forcibly enter the office of the Cebu Chapter of the PMCJ in Cebu City. After failing to enter the office by the front door, the man, whose face was covered with a motorcycle helmet, left with two other men on a motorbike. This incident occurred one week after PMCJ-Cebu staff noted unknown motorcycles parked outside their office late at night, sparking suspicions of surveillance, as the staff are familiar with the vehicles typically parked in front of the office.
Prior to these events, PMCJ-Cebu staff had experienced several other suspected instances of surveillance. These are allegedly connected to the organisation’s advocacy around the human rights and climate impact of several fossil-fuel energy projects in the region, including the coal-fired power plant owned by Aboitiz Power-Therma Visayas Inc (Aboitiz Power) and the Vivant Corporation in Toledo City, which the companies are seeking to expand.
On 15 November 2024, following activities organised in the nearby Toledo City in the context of the Global Day of Action, an international event calling for climate justice around the world, a masked man took photographs of PMCJ-Cebu staff before fleeing when confronted by other local human rights defenders.
On 24 March 2024, in a further suspected act of surveillance, human rights defenders from PMCJ-Cebu were photographed by a group of three unidentified people following a meeting with local human rights defenders in Toledo City. During the meeting, the human rights defenders discussed the impacts of the Aboitiz Power-Vivant Corporation owned coal-fired power plant in the city. Upon realising that they had been spotted, the unidentified individuals fled.
On the morning of 28 June 2023, human rights defenders from PMCJ-Cebu and a nearby PMCJ Chapter held a 10- to 15- minute peaceful protest in front of the KEPCO SPC-owned coal-fired power plant in Naga City. The human rights defenders were initially apprehended by local police officers, who accused them of being paid protestors sent from a neighbouring town, and threatened to arrest them, accusing them of being supporters of insurgents.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express concern at the alleged surveillance of members of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice in Cebu Province and the suspected attempt to break into their office. We express further concern at the obstruction they have allegedly faced in the peaceful exercise of their human rights, including their right to freedom of peaceful assembly, for the purpose of promoting and protecting human rights in the context of climate change and advocating for a just transition from fossil fuels. We note with concern that the alleged harassment, surveillance and restrictions appear to take place in direct connection to their human rights defence work, climate change advocacy and exercise of their right to freedom of expression. We recall that States have a duty to put in place effective measures to protect against attacks aimed at silencing those exercising their right to freedom of expression (CCPR/C/GC/34, para. 23).
