March 29, 2024

Over this Easter Weekend, the International Interfaith Network of ICHRP would like to present four Prayers for Peace, which we will publish daily over the weekend. These prayers were submitted by members of the Interfaith Network. They help us reflect on our role as people of faith in the struggle for justice, peace, and human rights in the Philippines.

Today’s prayer was written by Reverend Ariel Siagan of the United Church of Canada.

Jesus, the suffering servant, you who bear the sins of the world bringing it with you on the Cross, we come to you with a heavy heart compounded by the unjust situations in our country. You have come to the world to make right and restore our relationship with you, and us to one another. Because of your suffering on the cross we live under the regime of grace, that you may be able to forgive us and us to forgive one another. But Lord, the relationships we have with one another are the opposite of your regime of grace. Our government officials are leading a regime of greed for power and money. Lord, peasant communities in our beloved country still do not own the land they till. Because many rich families still hold on to the land they inherited from the colonial past, genuine agrarian reform has remained an unrealized dream. Lord, many people in the urban communities are suffering from threats of hunger and unemployment. Because our government leaders prioritize charter change that will open floodgates of exploitation affecting our people and land rather than creating industries where our people can realize their full humanly potential.

We realized that genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization are key issues that have to be talked through on the table of peace. May you illuminate the mind of our government that they may be compelled to talk with the National Democratic Front in the Philippines, to institute peace that is based on justice.

This we pray in the name of our Lord, who is suffering with His people. Amen.

Oppose greater US military presence in the Philippines, ongoing violations of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law

Press Statement
March 19, 2024

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) salutes the protests organised by the New Patriotic Alliance (BAYAN) today in Manila against the Blinken-Marcos Jr. meeting taking place in Malacanang Palace.

“BAYAN is highlighting the bloody hand of the US in the Israeli genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza, and protesting against the extension of the US military bases in the Philippines in preparation for a war against China. ICHRP upholds human rights and International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and sees these rights as universal and indivisible,” said Peter Murphy, ICHRP Chairperson.

“We call on the international community to hold both the Philippine and US governments accountable for the gross violations of these rights being perpetrated in the Philippines.”

In February 2023, the Marcos Jr administration agreed to provide four more military bases to the US, under their Enhanced Defence Cooperation Arrangement (EDCA). These are the Naval Base Camilo Osias in Santa Ana, Cagayan; Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela; Balabac Island in Palawan; and Lal-lo Airport in Cagayan. Three of the four are oriented towards Taiwan, the flashpoint for a potential war by the US against China.

“Filipino people don’t want to be a battlefield for a great power war, and ICHRP urges all nations in the region – South East Asia and North East Asia – to deescalate the frightening military buildup towards war,” said Murphy.

In the Philippines, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and the Anti-Terrorism Law drive the repression of unarmed civilian critics of the government, and are part of the broader counterinsurgency war which is now escalating its aerial bombardment and artillery attacks of farming and indigenous peoples’ communities.

Two United Nations Special Rapporteurs, Ms Irene Khan and Mr Ian Fry, have called in recent months for the NTF-ELCAC to be abolished, but the Marcos Jr. administration continues to reject the call of the international community.

The US, Australia, Canada, and Japan turn a blind eye to the gross violations of human rights and IHL in favour of deepening military cooperation and arms sales to the Philippines as part of their broader China containment strategy.

No to US military expansion in the Philippines!
Defend Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law!
Stop the Bombings, End State Terror!
Address the Roots of the Armed Conflict! ###

Further comment: Peter Murphy, ICHRP Chairperson. WhatsApp: +61 418312301. Email: media@ichrp.net.

Urgent Alert
March 8, 2024

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) condemns the reported airstrike carried out by the 81st IBPA of the Philippine Army on the border of provinces Camarines Sur and Quezon in South Luzon. 

According to provincial human rights alliance Tanggol Quezon, soldiers aboard a helicopter fired on a family of coconut farm workers in Brgy. Maguibay, Tagkawayan, Quezon, in the early morning of March 4, 2024. The farm workers reportedly signaled by burning coconut shells to let the soldiers know that they were civilians. However, this did not deter the military from firing, and almost hitting the three civilians in the process.

The so-called counterinsurgency military operation caused widespread fear to the residents in the area, affecting the livelihood of farmers. Schools were reportedly affected and classes were suspended in barangays Mapulot, Bamban, Maguibuay, Tunton, Mansilay and Munting Parang in the municipality of  Tagkawayan, Quezon province, in Southern Tagalog and in barangays Mansalaya, Sta. Rita, Bagong Silang and Tabion in the town of Del Gallego, Camarines Norte, Bicol region.

The airstrike follows the series of aerial bombings carried out by the Philippine Army in Escalante, Negros and Bukidnon. In these cases, the military conveniently hides under the banner of its US-backed counterinsurgency program against communist rebels, to justify its disproportionate use of force that impacts civilians in the countryside.

The reported forced evacuation of hundreds of families and the massive threat it posed to the lives of civilians including school children through indiscriminate firing constitute violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

ICHRP calls for an immediate investigation to ensure the safety of affected civilians in the area. It reiterates its call for support from the international community to hold the Philippine government accountable for its countless human rights and IHL violations under the Marcos Jr. administration. ###

Further comment: Peter Murphy, ICHRP Chairperson. WhatsApp: +61 418312301. Email: media@ichrp.net.

Press Release
March 1, 2024

On Thursday, February 29th, Australian Greens Senator Janet Rice boldly held a “Stop Human Rights Abuses” placard in front of President Marcos during his address to the Australian Parliament. The Parliament subsequently removed Sen. Rice from the room and later the Senate censured her. 

In an address to the Senate, Rice stated “The action I took in the House today was deliberate, and it was powerful. . . I was appalled that President Marcos was given the opportunity to address our parliament today. . . it is appalling that a human rights abuser, of a government of human rights abuses, that the President of that government was able to address our Parliament today.” 

The Greens Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, Senator Jordan Steele-John, refused to attend the parliamentary session with Marcos Jr, and instead gave a fiery solidarity speech to the Filipino community protest taking place outside the parliament. Another Greens Senator, David Shoebridge also spoke to the protest.

“ICHRP expresses our gratitude to Senator Janet Rice for her bold action,” said ICHRP Chairperson, Peter Murphy. “Rice’s protest is the only appropriate response to Marcos’ presence in the Australian Parliament. President Marcos has done nothing but continue his father’s legacy of intensive repression, and has further empowered the mechanisms of terror set up under the Duterte regime. We also thank Senator Steele-John for his action, Senator Shoebridge for his speech, and all the Australian Greens for their solidarity.” 

In her speech on the Senate floor, Rice credited her action to her consultation with Filipinos across Australia, Australian-based members of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, as well as her participation in Investigate PH in 2021 

“Senator Janet Rice’s acknowledgement of the work of people’s organizations, including ICHRP, testifies to the importance of persistence and determination in the ongoing campaign for peace based on social justice in the Philippines,” stated Murphy. “In this light, we call on solidarity activists and people’s organizations to tirelessly expose  the realities and dire situation in the Philippines and win greater support for the Filipino people’s struggle to respect their rights under the intense repression of the current Marcos Regime. We likewise call on parliamentarians to take inspiration from Senator Rice’s action and to boldly oppose all support to President Marcos”, concluded Murphy. ###

Further comment: Peter Murphy, ICHRP Chairperson. WhatsApp: +61 418312301. Email: media@ichrp.net.

Press Statement
February 28, 2024

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) is deeply concerned about the ongoing level of state violence and repression directed rural communities and by continued reports of War Crimes and violations International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by state security forces in the Philippines.

The machineries of state terror, including the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and the Anti-Terror Law, built during the US-Duterte Regime, remain in place.  Despite attempts at rebranding following the recent visit of UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan, the Anti-Terrorism Law with its broad sweeping powers and the NTF-ELCAC, along with the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, continue to operate as mechanisms to crush dissent and to violate the civil and political rights of citizens.

ICHRP denounces the most recent state violations of IHL in the form of aerial strikes in Escalante, Negros Occidental which occurred on February 22nd.  According to media reports, at least five rockets were fired by a helicopter in Brgy. Pinapugasan, Escalante. The aerial strikes were carried out a day after the 79th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army said that encounters between soldiers and members of the New People’s Army began on February 21. The military’s aerial bombings have resulted in the forcible evacuation of more than 300 families from the area.

Videos posted on social media, showed helicopters, reportedly Blackhawk and Augusta Westland 109 attack helicopters, hovering in the area. In one video, tracer bullets were seen flying over a house at night, indicating random firing in the vicinity of the community.

ICHRP condemns the use of aerial strikes in Escalante and the forced evacuation of civilians, and calls for an immediate investigation of these incidents as both appear to constitute violations of IHL.

In another recent incident, reported by the news media site Kodao, the 47^th Infantry Battalion (47IB) and the Bohol Philippine National Police (PNP) captured 5 individuals including Atty. Hannah Cesista, Parlio Historia, Marlon Omusura, Alberto Sancho and Domingo Compoc in a house they stayed in Sitio Matin-ao 2, Barangay Campagao on the morning of February 23, 2024. Government authorities claimed the five were killed in a three-hour gun battle that also killed a Police Corporal Gilbert Amper. Compoc, 60, allegedly a top Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) leader in the province, was photographed in the custody of a government soldier after his apparent capture. 

Compoc who suffered from arthritis, was hacked at his neck and torso, before being killed in front of residents. According to a witness, Cesista a young lawyer, was ordered to crawl on mud before being executed. All five were reported to have died in military custody.

Such incidents are contrary to international laws of war (IHL) because all the victims were tortured and killed following their capture. Even combatants are ceded IHL protections once in custody.  Such incidents are part of a disturbing pattern where the state security forces in the Philippines continue to act with impunity.

Nations such as Australia, Canada, the US and Japan are turning a blind eye to such violations of IHL in favour of deepening security cooperation and arms sales to the Philippines as part of their broader China containment strategy. “Military support from Canada and the US for the Philippine governments war on dissent after its withdrawal from the ICC makes a mockery of IHL and respect for human rights,” said Reverend Patricia Lisson, ICHRP Canada spokesperson.

“In this context we should be turning the screws on the Philippine military instead of bolstering aid and supporting the IHL violators through military cooperation,” said Peter Murphy, ICHRP Chairperson.

Countless incidents of hamletting, red-tagging, harassment of civilians, and indiscriminate firing and aerial bombing of communities have been reported over the past year in different areas of the Philippines, including Cagayan Valley, Southern Tagalog, Eastern Visayas, Negros Island, and Mindanao.

“In this context we urge the international community and international institutions to stand with the victims and those who struggle for democracy and human rights in the Philippines. We call for continued pressure through international mechanisms and international solidarity action to push the Philippine government to respect the rules of war and abide by International Humanitarian Law,” concluded Murphy.

Defend Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law!
Stop the Bombings, End State Terror!
Address the Roots of the Armed Conflict!

Further comment: Peter Murphy, ICHRP Chairperson, +61 418312301
chairperson@ichrp.net