1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Philippine Human Rights Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) The United States State Department’s 2021 Human Rights Report on the Philippines found significant human rights issues in the country, including extrajudicial killings, by and on behalf of the government and nonstate actors; reports of forced disappearance by and on behalf of the government and nonstate actors; torture by and on behalf of the government and nonstate actors; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary detention by and on behalf of the government and nonstate actors; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary. The Report also notes, serious restrictions on free expression and media, including violence, threats of violence, and unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, censorship, and the use of criminal libel laws to punish journalists; high-level and widespread government corruption; serious government restrictions on or harassment of domestic human rights organizations; and threats and violence against labor activists . (2) The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), reported in September 2022, that major human rights issues persist in the Philippines, including, harassment, threats, arrests, attacks, red-tagging against civil society actors, as well as the continued drug related killings by police, and, access to justice for victims of human rights violations and abuses remained very limited . (3) A 2021 international independent investigation, Investigate Philippines, found that since 2020, the perpetuation of human rights violations by State forces has become more institutionalized, streamlined, and entrenched, and domestic remedies for such violations are insufficient, ineffective at providing redress and halting continued abuses . Said investigation further found: police and military forces are perpetuating violations and obstructing justice; investigations are not impartial