Statement
October 23, 2024
ICHRP honors the life and legacy of Dante Simbulan – a founding member of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) and a hero of the Filipino people and all those who seek a peace based on social justice. ICHRP extends our deepest condolences to his wife Patti, his children, family and friends – may you find peace and strength in his legacy and impact.
Born May 3, 1930, Dante became a captain at the Philippine Army and taught at the Philippine Military Academy, where he hosted a lecture of Prof. Jose Maria Sison on the mercenary tradition of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. He left the PMA and resigned his commission as a colonel.
In 1974, he was imprisoned without charges in Camp Bonifacio and Camp Crame, while various groups including Amnesty International campaigned for his release as a prisoner of conscience.
After his release, he sought asylum in the US, where he lived in the political center of the US, Washington DC. While in exile, he campaigned against the Marcos dictatorship, pointing out the regime’s accountability for the human rights and international humanitarian law violations and the billions of public funds stolen by the Marcoses and their cronies. He served as the Executive Director of the Church Coalition on Human Rights in the Philippines.
Dante continued to campaign for human rights in the Philippines in the area surrounding Washington DC for the rest of his life. He helped found Katarungan DC under the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo regime and became a founding member of ICHRP at its first assembly in 2013. He testified at the 2015 International People’s Tribunal in Washington DC.
Dante contributed to the movement for just peace in the Philippines through his prolific writing. In 2010, he published “The Modern Principalia: The Historical Evolution of the Philippine Ruling Oligarchy” and published his memoirs in 2016, “Whose Side Are We On?,” which outlines the historical context of his work as a soldier-turned-activist. In 2018, he published his masteral thesis on the socialist movement in the Philippines, “When the Rains Come, Will the Grass not Grow Again.”
Dante’s life serves as a shining example of selflessness and courage; his decisiveness to leave his military post at the risk of his own safety demonstrates a kind of bravery that can only come from a clear understanding of the depth and seriousness of Filipino people’s struggle for just and lasting peace. ICHRP calls upon people across the world to take inspiration from Dante: to learn and take to heart the real situation of exploited and oppressed classes in the Philippines; to abandon what is comfortable and easy, or brings personal prestige; and to persevere, with patience and dedication, to advance the Filipino people’s struggle for just peace.
