Council for People's Development and Governance

14/10/2026

Pinagpupugayan ng Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG) ang buhay, pakikibaka, at walang-maliw na dedikasyon ni Elmer Cordero, o mas kilala bilang “Tatay Elmer” ng PISTON, na pumanaw noong ika-7 ng Oktubre 2026 sa edad na 78.

Basahin ang buong pahayag: https://cpdg.ph/pagpupugay-kay-tatay-elmer-cordero-tsuper-at-bayani-ng-mamamayan/

07/10/2026

Kamz Deligente, Executive Director of the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR), on the right to organize and the celebration of the World Day for Decent Work.

Filipino translation: Walang disenteng trabaho kung walang layang mag-organisa ang mga manggagawa. Ang kalayaan sa pagsapi sa asosasyon—karapatan ng mga manggagawa na mag-unyon—ang nagbibigay sa kanila ng kolektibong lakas para ipaglaban ang kanilang mga karapatan. Karapatan sa nakabubuhay na sahod, regular at makabuluhang trabaho, ligtas na kondisyon sa paggawa, at tiyakin ang dignidad ng bawat manggagawa.

Read here: https://cpdg.ph/ctuhrs-kamz-deligente-on-the-world-day-for-decent-work/

06/10/2026

06/10/2026

As communities become targets of development aggression, the New Espionage Bill joins the list of possible lawfare against human rights defenders, expecting to aid in hiding destructive projects from public scrutiny.

Read the full position paper on the New Espionage Bill here: https://defendngoalliance.wixsite.com/defend-ngos-alliance/post/broad-nets-narrow-freedoms-the-chill-of-the-new-espionage-act

01/10/2026

October marks Peasant Month in the Philippines, shedding light on the bitter plight of Filipino farmers and their ongoing struggle for fundamental rights.

The corporate capture of agriculture and neoliberal policies continue to erode farmers’ livelihoods and national food security. The Philippine economy is stuck in a rut, and the agriculture sector has fallen to its lowest share of gross domestic product (GDP) in history. In Mindanao, most small-scale farmers remain landless and trapped in cycles of debt due to high production costs and meager returns amid increasing prices of basic food and services, making it nearly impossible to escape penury. This is reflected in a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey as of September 2025, showing that self-rated poverty and food poverty were highest in Mindanao.

Tragically, asserting their rights and dignity has only subjected farmers to relentless state persecution. Rural communities are affected by red-tagging and other forms of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law “repeatedly perpetrated with impunity” by state security forces.

At the same time, this structural vulnerability leaves farmers exposed to global and corporate pressures aimed at dismantling agrarian self-reliance. The Philippines faces pressure to adopt restrictive seed laws that entrench corporate monopolies and compromise farmer-led seed systems. MASIPAG insists that communities must retain the right to save, breed, exchange, and control their seeds. For generations, farmers and Indigenous Peoples have safeguarded traditional heirloom seeds through sustainable agroecological practices, preserving critical genetic diversity and ecosystem health that corporate models threaten to erase.

Compounding these legal and economic threats are foreign-backed initiatives that directly target rural lands. Currently, Filipino farmers fear displacement and loss of livelihood from the proposed US-led Pax Silica project. Advocates warn that this initiative will only intensify land grabbing, resource extraction, and militarization in rural areas.

Genuine rural development must be rooted in equity and social justice. This Peasant Month, MASIPAG calls for the spirit of bayanihan—urging collective action and care to ensure the safety, dignity, and resilience of agricultural communities as we work to rebuild our food systems. 🌾

26/09/2026

On this day, the 26th of September, we celebrate the anniversary of the formal establishment of the Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG). Twenty years on, our shared struggle to assert civic space and advance people’s rights and welfare continues.

Read the full statement here: https://cpdg.ph/cpdg-at-20/

26/09/2026

LOOK: The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) held its second roundtable discussion on the Human Rights Defenders Protection Bill last September 22, Tuesday, where civil society organizations were consulted on the provisions of the draft legislation.

Read here: https://cpdg.ph/chr-holds-2nd-roundtable-discussion-on-the-human-rights-defenders-protection-bill/




Photo Courtesy: Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines

23/09/2026

[NETWORKS]

21/09/2026

Across two Marcos presidencies, corruption, injustice, and impunity continue to prevail, leaving the country plundered and buried in debt. CPDG calls on Filipinos to dismantle the system that has allowed the Marcoses' return, end impunity, and assert the recovery of stolen funds in the 1970s and in the 2020s alike.

Read the full statement here: https://cpdg.ph/martial-law-and-the-unbroken-chain-of-deprivation/

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20/09/2026

The Council for People's Development and Governance (CPDG) strongly denounces the Supreme Court's acquittal of Imelda Romualdez Marcos from the seven counts graft she was charged guilty of in 2018. The dismissal happened just a few days before the 54th anniversary of Proclamation of Martial Law in the Philippines by then president Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr.

[READ MORE HERE]
https://cpdg.ph/silence-in-the-courts-the-quiet-erasure-of-marcos-accountability/

Silence in the Courts: The Quiet Erasure of Marcos AccountabilitySeptember 20, 2026On 21 September 2026, the country marks the 54th anniversary of Presidential Proclamation 1081 – the day Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. placed the Philippines under martial law and began fourteen years of a regime remember...