KARAPATAN joins “DEKADA,” Exhibit for Collective Memory and Accountability on 10th Year of Duterte’s ‘War on Drugs’
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS RELEASE
14 August 2026
References: Maria Sol Taule, KARAPATAN Deputy Secretary General, 09452966916
KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 0918-9790580
KARAPATAN joins “DEKADA,” Exhibit for Collective Memory and Accountability on 10th Year of Duterte’s ‘War on Drugs’
QUEZON CITY, Philippines — Ten years after the Duterte administration implemented its bloody “war on drugs” and counterinsurgency campaign, KARAPATAN joined families of victims, artists, and rights advocates in an exhibit to commemorate the victims of extrajudicial killings, and their families who continue to seek justice.
KARAPATAN’s artwork, “Dekada Hustisya,” is part of the Dekada ng Sama-samang Pag-alala exhibit, which opens today, August 14, at the Parola, UP College of Fine Arts Gallery. The multi-disciplinary exhibit brings together families of victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs), artists, journalists, academics, lawyers, church groups, and human rights defenders to commemorate a decade of grief, resistance, and the continuing struggle for justice.
“Ang alaala ay kailangang paulit-ulit na buksan at ilantad upang hindi tuluyang mabura (Memory must be repeatedly opened and brought to light so it is not completely erased),” said KARAPATAN in the artist’s note for its artwork, a collective art installation.
The artwork invites the public to revisit a decade marked by state terror and violence under former President Rodrigo Duterte, from the killings carried out in the name of the “war on drugs” to the killings and repression of activists, organizers, and ordinary Filipinos who spoke out and fought for their rights.
At the center of the “Dekada Hustisya” installation is an overturned box, symbolizing a society turned upside down by fascism. Below the box are photographs of victims of killings and human rights violations, whose lives and struggles form part of the collective memory of the Duterte administration’s terror against the people.
Beside the art installation are postcards, where visitors may write messages of solidarity, transforming the exhibit into a space of both remembrance and collective action.
“Ten years later, families continue to demand truth, justice, and accountability. For KARAPATAN, remembering the victims is inseparable from the struggle to hold perpetrators accountable. With this, we amplify the call to convict Duterte, and arrest and hold accountable his minions like Rolando “Bato” dela Rosa, Bong Go, and all state forces that carried out the bloody war against the people,” said Maria Sol Taule, KARAPATAN deputy secretary general.
KARAPATAN also said that the struggle against forgetting is real amidst the perpetuation in power of Duterte’s ilk, like VP Sara Duterte whose ambition to become president in 2028 is to ensure that they will continue to enjoy impunity from their crimes.
The Dekada ng Sama-samang Pag-alala Exhibit will run until August 29, 2026 as part of a series of exhibitions, film screenings, discussions, and public interventions. #
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KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties. It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign. It was established in 1995.