Paper Title
Policy Brief/Note of Philippine Health Issues: Human Rights Violations Committed on Healthcare Workers
Abstract
Numerous instances of human rights violations on healthcare workers have been reported during the COVID-19
pandemic in the Philippines. This brief aims to explore these civil and political rights violations and propose
recommendations to address these. Our review shows that a wide range of civic and political human rights violations have
been committed by individual citizens and government agencies on individual healthcare workers and health worker groups.
These violations include discrimination, red-tagging, evictions, illegal arrests, and acts of violence ranging from chemical
attacks to homicide. If left unchecked, these issues, compounded by the pandemic, may lead to the exacerbations of the preexisting
problems of the Philippine healthcare system. Despite all pre-existing reports by human rights groups and public
media articles, there still seems to be a lack of government action to condemn and prevent these violations. The existence of
government agencies which directly contribute to these violations with the lack of condemnation from other agencies further
propagate the problem. Given these issues, this policy brief recommends the establishment of an interagency task force for
the protection of human rights of healthcare workers as well as the expedited passing of current legislative bills towards the
same goal. For more immediate action, we call for the establishment of a dedicated hotline for these incidents with adequate
appointment and training of point persons, construction of clear guidelines, and closer collaboration between government
agencies in being united against these issues.
Keywords - COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers, human rights violations, Philippines