Statement
March 10, 2025

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) vehemently condemns the recent aerial attacks by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on March 4th near Cabanglasan town, Bukidnon. 

Although the AFP claims FA-50 fighter jets were providing air support to troops engaged in an encounter with the New People’s Army (NPA), community reports indicate the two FA-50 fighter jets fired indiscriminately, dropping at least eight powerful bombs in the area. Reports say local farming and Indigenous Lumad communities are suffering trauma in the aftermath of the bombardment, and have been forced to grapple with the destruction of the area land which is the source of their livelihood.

The attack on March 4 has come into focus due to the crash of one of the AFP’s FA-50 fighter jets and the death of two pilots. But these bombings are part of an increasing trend of indiscriminate aerial attacks that puts civilians in rural communities at great risk. The March 4 bombing spree follows a recent series of aerial strafings in Mindoro, as well as the recent crash and discovery of a US spy plane in Mindanao. The crashed FA-50 was one of the same jets used in the five-month government siege of Marawi City in 2017, which displaced 400,000 Maranaons from their homes. It also follows the recent disappearance of Lumad activists Michelle Campos and Genasque Enriquez, whose whereabouts are currently unknown after being arrested by state forces earlier this month.

The growing frequency of AFP counterinsurgency and aerial attacks constitutes a grave violation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which enshrines the distinction between civilians and combatants. Peasant communities and Indigenous groups are at particular risk from these attacks, suffering psychological distress, death of farm animals, extreme damage to crops and land, and death. These bombings and strafings, ostensibly carried out in the context of the armed conflict between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the NPA, fail to distinguish between military targets and civilian populations. 

Human rights group Karapatan has reported that GRP bombing and strafing activities have been consistently indiscriminate in nature. They are characterized by disproportionate force and have repeatedly resulted in forced evacuations and civilian casualties. According to Tanggol Magsasaka, between January 2022 to March 2023, at least 1,254 individuals were affected by aerial bombing assaults, with 900 of them displaced in 2023 alone.

News outlets and human rights groups have documented white phosphorus bombings, strafings, airstrikes, and intense aerial bombardments by the GRP in the past decade, and these occurrences are increasing with alarming rapidity. Between July 2022 and June 2024, Karapatan has identified 44,065 victims of bombings in the Philippines, and the number reportedly rose from 2,345 in 2022 to 20,391 in 2023, representing a stunning 766% increase. Peasant and indigenous people, whose lands are rich in natural resources, continue to suffer the most from AFP operations in rural areas of the Philippines.

While the AFP has tried to explain its weapons acquisitions as part of a modernization program meant for territorial defense against China, the events of March 4th constitute yet more evidence that the attention of the AFP is fixed on counterinsurgency. Weapons sales to the Philippines from countries like the United States are directly supporting these anti-people operations that impact rural communities already struggling with dire poverty and landlessness. 

ICHRP calls on the GRP to uphold IHL and end its campaign of surveillance and indiscriminate bombings in civilian communities. We must develop the solidarity movement  for the struggle of Filipinos for land and life amid growing aerial attacks and bombings. 

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February 27, 2025
Urgent Alert

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) condemns the aerial strafing and widespread militarization conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the province of Oriental Mindoro, Southern Tagalog.

According to reports from human rights group Karapatan Southern Tagalog, the 76th Infantry Battalion of the 203rd Infantry Brigade conducted indiscriminate aerial strafing last February 19 in the Barangay Misong, Pola, Oriental Mindoro after an alleged encounter between the Philippine Army (PA) and the New People’s Army (NPA). The incident follows several reported clashes between the two armed groups in separate towns in the provinces of Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro since January this year.

The military’s use of aerial artillery has caused severe distress and trauma to the residents of the affected areas. In the town of Pola, the artillery rounds have damaged their farms, affecting the livelihood of local farmers and preventing them from tending to their crops and livestock. 

Locals report that the military is employing martial law in nearby communities: from economic blockade and military lockdowns to the deployment of soldiers in civilian areas. On February 21, residents of Barangay Misong were reportedly forced to evacuate by the military as part of their pursuit operations against the NPA. All these constitute blatant violations of international humanitarian law (IHL).

The intensifying militarization in Mindoro is linked to big-ticket development projects by the Marcos Jr. government. These include a planned nuclear power plant in Occidental Mindoro, several airports in Oriental Mindoro, and the plan to turn the island into a power hub of Southern Luzon, supposedly to boost local manufacturing and inter-regional trade. This venture is part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a China-led free-trade agreement ratified by the Philippine Senate in 2023.

To attract more foreign investors, foreign direct investment, and to facilitate the smooth entry of multinational companies, the military is tasked to ensure that the island is Conflict Manageable and Ready for Development (CMRFD) – a term used by the Philippine government to describe an area that is “stable” and considered safe and suitable for economic development. This is not a surprise, since Mindoro is abundant in natural resources, such as fossil fuels, liquefied natural gas, armor rocks, gold, nickel, copper, among others. 

The AFP is historically a violator of human rights and IHL in the island of Mindoro. They have displaced the Mangyan Indigenous People from their ancestral lands to make way for huge multinational mining companies. They have terrorized, harassed, and routinely red-tagged farmers. It must be remembered that it was the 4th IB of the Philippine Army who killed 21 year-old Jay-El Maligday—whom they accused of being an NPA soldier—in the town of Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro last April 7, 2024. 

ICHRP condemns the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of military force by the AFP, the forced evacuation of civilians, and other human rights and IHL violations committed in their military operations. It calls for immediate psychosocial support and relief for the traumatized residents in affected areas. It fully supports the call for donations by local human rights groups for victims of militarization in Mindoro.

ICHRP is collecting donations to send to local human rights groups in Mindoro, who are providing support to victims of militarization. Please donate to our campaign at: ichrp.net/SupportMindoro

Coalition calls for genuine effort to re-engage for a just peace

Press Statement
February 14

“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) condemns the Marcos Jr. administration for crudely negating the 2023 initiative for the resumption of peace talks between his government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP),” said ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy today.

“The apparent opening announced in the Oslo Joint Statement on November 23, 2023, is being wrecked by Marcos Jr. Back-channel talks through 2024 have failed to get the formal talks re-started because of the government’s actions. The international community should hold Marcos Jr. to account for this, press him to change course from bad faith to good faith, to go back to the negotiations to conclude the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), and to proceed with the agenda agreed in the Hague Joint Declaration way back in 1992,” Murphy said.

“As a practical step and a confidence-building measure, the Marcos Jr. government should immediately lift its designation of the NDFP as a terrorist organization,” said Murphy. “This June 2021 designation by the Anti-Terrorism Council has no judicial support, blocks the peace talks, and enables sweeping anti-terrorism finance charges against many community-based non-profit organizations,” said Murphy.

National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano, and Assistant Director General of the National Security Council Jonathan Malaya, have opposed the peace talks and continue to justify the violent attacks by government security forces on unarmed NDFP peace consultants and negotiators, and more broadly to commit war crimes against the population.

During 2024 government forces killed NDFP peace consultants Ariel Arbitrario and Concha Araneta-Bocala, and arrested consultant for the Cordilleras Simeon Naogsan, consultant for Southern Mindanao Porferio Tuna, consultant for Southern Tagalog Wigberto Villarico and consultant for Panay Island Tomas Dominado. In August 2022, under Marcos Jr., NDFP peace panel member Benito Tiamzon and consultant Wilma Austria were brutally murdered. After the formal talks were cancelled by Duterte in November 2017, peace consultants Randy Malayao (2019), Julius Giron (2020), Randall Echanis (2020), Eugenia Magpantay and her husband Agaton Topacio (2020), Antonio Cabanatan and Florenda Yap (2021), Jorge Madlos (2021), Rustico Tan (2021), Reynaldo Bocala (2021), Menandro Villanueva (2022), Ericson Acosta and Pedro Codaste (2022), and Rogelio Posadas (2023) were killed.

None of the peace consultants illegally arrested under Duterte have been released – Vicente Ladlad, Adelberto Silva, Loida Magpatoc, Renante Gamara and Frank Fernandez.

All of these people should have been protected by the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG) and under the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), which are formal commitments of the Philippine government.

“The Marcos Jr administration committed to pursue peace in November 2023, but in reality imprisons or kills the people working to achieve a just and lasting peace,” said Murphy.

“With the open conflict between President Marcos Jr. and his Vice President, Sara Duterte, now leading to an impeachment trial, the international community should acknowledge the lawless reality behind the facade of democracy in the Philippines, withhold all military aid, and insist on the upholding of the human rights of the people. The peace talks with the NDFP are an alternative pathway, and should be retrieved from the Marcos freezer,” Murphy concluded.

ICHRP Response to Feb 6 Crash of US Surveillance Plane in Mindanao

Statement
February 14, 2025

On February 6th, a United States surveillance plane crashed in a rice field near Amputan, Maguindanao in Mindanao. According to the US Indo Pacific Command, “the aircraft was providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support at the request of our Philippine allies. The incident occurred during a routine mission in support of U.S.-Philippine security cooperation activities.” Four people, including one US marine and three contracted by the US Department of Defense died in the crash. 

The surveillance operation, which happened not far from the site of the notorious 2009 Maguindanao Massacre, is yet another event which raises serious concerns about the devastating impacts of the United States role in “counter-terror” and counterinsurgency operations in the Philippines. 

Indeed, this is not the first time that US troops have been identified conducting operations in the Philippines, particularly in Mindanao, or even the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. Following the 2001 US proclamation of the Philippines as the “2nd Front on the War on Terror” under the Bush Administration, an increase in US militarism and aid to “counter-terror” operations ensued. In 2015, under the Aquino regime, following the Mamasapano massacre which took the lives of civilians in a so-called “counter-terror” operation, Suara Bangsamoro identified the body of a US military officer killed in the operation, despite US denial. Under the Duterte Administration in 2017, the US played an integral role in directing and providing intelligence when the Armed Forces of the Philippines bombarded Marawi City, displacing 400,000 and putting at risk thousands of civilians. 

As the US increases its presence in the Philippines, US aerial surveillance is now a growing trend in the Philippines. In September 2016, Defense Secretary Lorenzana told the Philippine legislature that 107 U.S. soldiers based in Zamboanga City were conducting surveillance operations in Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, using both aircraft as well as drones. According to the US Naval Institute News, US Marines began operating MQ-9A Reaper drones out of Basa Air Base “to provide reconnaissance and surveillance” beginning in 2024. 

The impacts of US involvement in surveillance and counterinsurgency in the Philippines are well documented and longstanding. From the time of the Philippine-American war (1899-1902) through to the onset of the US War on Terror, US involvement in the Philippines has resulted in a massive death toll and destruction of land and people’s livelihood. 

Mindanao for example – an island rich with natural resources – has always been a target of the US. The US has launched military operations on the island dating back to 1899, seeking to subdue the Filipino people and establish economic control. Today’s counterinsurgency operations, which seek to squash the Filipino people’s resistance and struggle for self-determination, ultimately aim to deepen US hegemony in the Asia Pacific region. With the support of the US, the Philippine state continues to target poor and rural communities, including indigenous Moro and Lumad peoples. But these operations only serve to exacerbate the very basis of the people’s resistance which the US-backed Marcos regime seeks to crush. 

US meddling in the Philippines, and US direct involvement in counterinsurgency operations, stands contrary to the people’s aspiration for genuine peace and sovereignty.

The exposure of this recent surveillance operation raises further questions about the number of undisclosed US operations happening elsewhere in the archipelago. As ICHRP, we call for a probe into the nature of the recent surveillance operation to be made public. Amid the rapid increase of US troops in the Philippines, and the multiplying foreign military agreements with the Philippines, we call for the immediate withdrawal of US troops and the halting of foreign military agreements with the Philippines. 

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