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How are Filipino children’s rights affected by counterinsurgency? (Part 2)

ICHRP Secretariat
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How are Filipino children’s rights affected by counterinsurgency? (Part 2)

Abduction and Interrogation of Belle

“Belle”, a 14-year old girl from Quezon province, was forcibly taken by soldiers from the 59th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in July 2020. Her mother was a coconut farmer who was an active member of Coco Levy Fund Ibalik sa Amin (CLAIM), an organization working to unite farmers and lobby against unfair pricing practices. The soldiers who kidnapped Belle interrogated her about her knowledge on communist groups, and pressured her into falsely claiming that her mother was a member of the New People’s Army (NPA). She was illegally detained for over two weeks, during which time she was subjected to torture, humiliation, and rape.

After her detention, Belle was transferred to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), where an official instructed her to write a statement against her mother. When she refused, Leoven Julita, her rapist, made up a false statement claiming that Belle’s mother was restricting her freedom and coercing her to join the NPA. Julita then intimidated her into signing the fabricated statement, threatening that the military would harm her family if she didn’t comply. Rather than offering support, the DSWD advised Belle to remain silent and simply comply with the soldiers’ demands.

Abduction of Baby Marx

Baby Marx was born on November 17, 2020 in Bacolod City. Now two (4) years old, Baby Marx is held hostage by the Philippine government following his abduction on January 13, 2021.

Soldiers of the 79th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army raided the home of Edwin and Marlyn Madin at 2:00 AM and forcibly took the then two-month old infant in order to force his parents, alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA), to surrender. Baby Marx has since been in the custody of the Escalante City Department of Social Welfare and Development, believed to be under the orders of the military.

Members of ICHRP’s Interfaith Fellowship and Learning Tour interviewed his grandparents, Renato and Linda Salino, in 2022. Baby Marx’s grandparents have themselves been the subject of various forms of harassment, threat and intimidation, and forced into hiding. Despite this, the couple have been engaged in a long custody battle and are determined to get custody of their grandchild.

Killing of Kian delos Santos

An anti-drug operation on the outskirts of Manila in 2017 turned into the murder of a 17-year old high school student. According to the police’s official report, Kian delos Santos was allegedly found in possession of shabu and a .45 caliber gun, which he supposedly used to shoot at the officers. However, CCTV footage and witness testimony contradicted the police’s version of the events. The footage showed Kian being dragged near his home, where he was slapped and punched until he cried and begged, “Please stop. I have a test tomorrow.” He was then dragged from one alley to another, past a basketball court, into a dead-end corner. There, he was told to run while holding a gun—and when he did, he was shot.

Kian’s murder sparked public outrage because of the controversial circumstances surrounding his death, particularly the lack of due process. His killing became a symbol of the brutality and human rights violations that characterized the government’s war on drugs, contributing to the growing criticism of Duterte’s authoritarian policies.

A Thousand Voices: Building Solidarity with the Filipino Children

Children should be considered sacred. They should be able to go to school unbothered, and spend time with their friends and families without anxiety. Filipino children deserve to live a childhood unencumbered by fear and violence.

In time for the Children’s Month commemorated in the Philippines, our webinar from November 24 tackled the current situation of the Filipino children, highlighting the impacts of human rights and international humanitarian law violations. It featured resource speakers from the Children’s Rehabilitation Center and Salinlahi.

This webinar also served as the launch of a year-long solidarity campaign by the Foundation for Filipino Children, a member organization of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines.

Watch the webinar recording at YouTube.com/@ICHRPGlobal

ICHRP calls for global solidarity to support typhoon-stricken Filipinos

ICHRP Secretariat
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ICHRP calls for global solidarity to support typhoon-stricken Filipinos

Donate to typhoon relief efforts: ichrp.net/ReliefPH

In just the past 10 days, the Philippines has faced an unprecedented disaster: four successive typhoons, including super typhoons Pepito (Man-yi) and Nika (Toraji), have ravaged the country with massive losses for farmers and the agricultural sector. These storms, exacerbated by the climate crisis and government negligence, have left millions of Filipinos displaced, and their homes, farms, and livelihoods in ruins.

The most impacted areas from typhoon damage include:  

The Bicol region (at the southern tip of Luzon) has seen over 1 million individuals across 1,441 barangays affected. Flooding has submerged 870 hectares of rice fields and destroyed roads, homes, and livelihoods. Entire communities in Albay, Camarines Sur, and Sorsogon are grappling with nearly total crop loss, while farmers face mounting debts and food insecurity.

Catanduanes (an island in the Bicol region) suffered catastrophic damage from Super Typhoon Pepito. Tens of thousands were displaced, with abaca production—the backbone of the island’s economy— severely damaged. Farmers face years of recovery due to abaca’s long cultivation cycle​

In Cagayan Valley (in the northeastern section of Luzon), severe flooding caused by Typhoon Nika has displaced over 1,600 families. The Magat Dam’s water releases and Cagayan River’s overflow have inundated 35 villages. Residents are now bracing for Typhoon Ofel, which threatens to worsen the already dire conditions​.

Environmental degradation resulting from quarrying around Mount Mayon and political inaction have intensified flooding and lahar risks in the province. At the same time, unchecked land degradation in Catanduanes and improper dam water management in Cagayan have left these regions more vulnerable to storm impacts​.

Storm impacts also amplify existing socioeconomic vulnerabilities. Farmers, fisherfolk, and low-income communities bear the brunt of the disaster. They face widespread poverty, limited government assistance, and systemic neglect, leaving them in a constant cycle of debt and displacement​.

The disaster has left communities in desperate need of:

  • Basic relief: food, clean water, shelter, hygiene kits, and medical supplies.
  • Livelihood support: seeds, farming tools, and financial aid to help farmers and fisherfolk recover their incomes.
  • Infrastructure repair: flood-damaged homes and public structures require urgent rehabilitation​.

The ICHRP donation drive will support affected communities. Your contribution can help deliver lifesaving relief and rebuild the hope and livelihoods of Filipinos.

Donate now to provide:

  • Emergency supplies for displaced families.
  • Farming tools and materials for rural livelihoods.
  • Advocacy support to hold accountable the Marcos Jr. government for the neglect and continued exploitation of these communities.

Donate to typhoon relief efforts: ichrp.net/ReliefPH

#ReliefForPhilippines
#ReliefPH
#GlobalSolidarity
#ClimateJusticeNow
#MakeMarcosAccountable

How are Filipino children’s rights affected by counterinsurgency?

ICHRP Secretariat
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How are Filipino children’s rights affected by counterinsurgency?

Children and Militarization

Despite various proclamations by the Philippine government and local laws protecting children, the current situation in the Philippines is still dangerous for them. A majority of children come from the most vulnerable sectors of society, and are victims of poverty, lack of access to education, and the effects of state violence in their communities.

From Duterte’s “war on drugs” to the current climate of red-tagging, intimidation, arrests, disappearances, and extrajudicial killings under Marcos Jr., the human rights situation is dire. The Philippine government’s so-called “counterinsurgency” strategy, essentially a war against all forms of dissent, has led to an increase in militarization of many urban and rural communities. Militarization results in interruption to daily life, fear, and grave violations of human rights. 

Effects of Counterinsurgency

Caught up in the midst of these challenges are Filipino children.

The children who are particularly affected by counterinsurgency are those who live in militarized communities, those who have parents accused of being supporters of the New People’s Army (NPA), or those who are branded as communists themselves by the military. Children living in the midst of militarization suffer from trauma after experiencing indiscriminate bombings and shellings of their communities, displacement from their homes, or loss of family members. 

State Terror During US Military Exercises

According to an ICHRP fact finding team in 2023, the US and Philippine military made use of civilian spaces such as classrooms during the Balikatan joint military exercises. The two military forces engaged in side-by-side exercises framed as “building a classroom”, which was in reality training and intelligence work. Soldiers traveled around Alicia, a town in Isabela province, mapping the community, and American soldiers occupied four elementary schools as part of the training. When community members learned of the arrival of the military to “build a classroom,” they became afraid and worried that the military presence would entail heavier surveillance. The use of civilian objects, especially those meant for children such as schools, is a violation of international humanitarian law.

State Repression of Lumad Schools

The Lumad, an indigenous people living in remote rural areas in the southern Philippines, have faced brutal repression in the process of operating schools designed to address the needs of their community. These schools were created to preserve and pass on their native languages, traditions, and agricultural knowledge, as well as teach subjects like mathematics, science, and literacy. The Lumad schools provide essential education to children in areas where the Philippine government has failed to do so.

Under Duterte, the government and military accused the Lumads of being associated with the armed communist movement. They claimed that the schools were being used to recruit young people into rebel forces, and were teaching subversive ideas to students. The military and local authorities launched violent attacks to force the closure of these schools, leading to the eventual displacement of many Lumad families. Civilian families were forced to seek refuge in urban areas, severely disrupting their way of life and education.

A Thousand Voices: Building Solidarity with the Filipino Children

Children should be considered sacred. They should be able to go to school unbothered, and spend time with their friends and families without anxiety. Filipino children deserve to live a childhood unencumbered by fear and violence.

In time for the Children’s Month commemorated in the Philippines, our webinar on November 24 will tackle the current situation of the Filipino children, highlighting the impacts of human rights and international humanitarian law violations. It will feature resource speakers from the Children’s Rehabilitation Center and Salinlahi.

This webinar will also serve as the launch of a year-long solidarity campaign by the Foundation for Filipino Children, a member organization of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines.

Register at ichrp.net/FFCVoices

One year after Oslo Joint Statement, ICHRP calls on Philippine govt to pursue the path towards peace by resolving the roots of the armed conflict

ICHRP Secretariat
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One year after Oslo Joint Statement, ICHRP calls on Philippine govt to pursue the path towards peace by resolving the roots of the armed conflict

Statement
November 23, 2024

It has been one year since the signing of the Joint Statement on resumption of peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). The Joint Statement was signed by representatives of both parties on November 23, 2023, in Oslo, Norway, and promised a commitment by both sides to urgently address the socioeconomic problems that drive Filipinos to take up armed struggle against the government.

One year later, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) is concerned about the sincerity of the GRP in striving for a genuine solution to the armed conflict. Based on the actions of the GRP and its Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the year since the Joint Statement, there is no indication that the GRP will approach peace negotiations with a genuine respect for the previously agreed-upon framework with the NDFP, nor genuine concern for the needs of the Filipino people.

Peace negotiations between the GRP and NDFP have occurred on-and-off for decades. The original agreed upon framework and agenda was signed by both parties in The Hague Joint Declaration, which stipulates the objective of “resolving the roots of the armed conflict” and a four-point agenda: human rights and international humanitarian law, socio-economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms, and end of hostilities and disposition of forces. The peace talks were most recently terminated in 2017, early in the presidency of former president Rodrigo Duterte. The framework of the negotiations has always been based on an intent to address the socioeconomic root problems that drive people to take up arms on the side of the NDFP—widespread landlessness for the country’s majority, poverty, lack of industrialization that would develop the economy to provide jobs with decent wages, and foreign intervention and control of the country by the US and other capitalist countries.

In the decades since the peace negotiations began, several binding agreements have been signed by both parties, such as the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) which ensure the safety and welfare of individuals participating in the talks, and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

Despite the signing of the Joint Statement last year, violations of the JASIG and CARHRIHL by the GRP and AFP have not only continued but have escalated under the Marcos regime under its counterinsurgency program Oplan Kapantagan into 2024. The International People’s Tribunal in May 2024 showed that under Marcos Jr., the GRP and AFP have repeatedly violated international humanitarian law. This includes conflating civilian activists with armed combatants; as well as mistreating, torturing, and summarily executing prisoners of war or rebel soldiers who are hors de combat. In the name of “counter-insurgency”, the GRP deploys the AFP to rural communities across the Philippines to terrorize, intimidate, disappear, and worse, kill civilians including women and children. There have also been countless reports of indiscriminate bombing, including the use of white phosphorus bombs, on whole rural villages.

Although churches and civil society organizations have made resoundingly clear their desire for substantive and genuine solutions to the roots of the armed conflict, the GRP has sabotaged dialogue, especially in targeting peace consultants. There have been numerous cases of arrest and killing of designated NDFP peace consultants in the past year, such as the recent arrest of Simeon Naogsan, Porferio Tuna, and Wigberto Villarico in November 2024. The most recent case of a peace consultant’s murder involved Ariel Arbitrario, who was killed alongside two others hors de combat in Cagayan, northern Philippines, on September 11, 2024. Despite holding Document of Identification Number PP 978542 under the JASIG, Arbitrario was captured, tortured for a day, and subsequently executed.

In addition to violating the internationally recognized rules of war, the GRP has outwardly stated that its previously agreed-upon framework with the NDFP does not apply anymore. This means rejecting decades of formal negotiations and agreements between both sides. For the GRP, this one-sided disposal of the framework is justification for the arrest and killing of NDFP peace consultants who would otherwise be protected under the JASIG. 

But just as these previous agreements were signed by both parties through formal procedures and observed by 3rd party governments, they can only be undone through a formal and bilateral process. The arbitrary and one-sided rejection of the Hague Joint Declaration and JASIG by the GRP does not justify attacks against protected peace consultants.

ICHRP reiterates its call to the GRP to sincerely strive for a just peace in the Philippines by ending violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, releasing all political prisoners including NDFP peace consultants, respecting and abiding by all previously signed agreements with the NDFP, and enacting socioeconomic changes to address the roots problems of the armed conflict, towards realizing a just and lasting peace for the Filipino people.

ICHRP condemns killing of Jerick Jugal in Northern Samar

ICHRP Secretariat
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ICHRP condemns killing of Jerick Jugal in Northern Samar

Press statement
November 19, 2024

According to Philippine rights group Karapatan (Alliance for Advancement of People’s Rights), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) killed Jerick Jugal, a resident of Barangay Sulitan, Catubig, Northern Samar, along with another individual on November 5, 2024 in Catubig. As in many other cases, the AFP falsely claimed that Jugal was a New People’s Army (NPA) rebel and died in an encounter between the 20th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) and the NPA. Witnesses confirm that there was no “encounter”—this was a murder and a war crime.

Jugal’s fellow villagers confirm that he is a civilian and his family’s sole breadwinner. Residents of Barangay Sulitan and surrounding communities moreover assailed the restrictions imposed by the 20th IBPA, led by Lt. Col. Richard Villaflor, on the villagers, who are reportedly prohibited from leaving their homes to engage in their livelihoods and going to the town center to buy food and other needed items. 

“ICHRP condemns the killing of Jerick in the strongest terms. The killing of Jerick leaves the family not only in deep grief but also in greater danger of hunger,” said ICHRP Chairperson, Peter Murphy. “The tagging of a civilian as a member of the NPA is yet another example of the attempts of state forces in the Philippines to cover up their violations of international humanitarian law, as well as key agreements in the peace talks such as the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.”

“The US-supported counterinsurgency program of the Philippine government has already been unmasked before the international community as a vicious scheme that perpetuates killings and attacks against poor Filipinos, especially peasants and indigenous people. Foreign governments must act now to end all military aid to the AFP and pressure the Marcos regime to put a stop to ongoing war crimes” said Murphy. 

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