The International Coalition of Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) condemns the arrest of Benjamin “Banjo” Cordero, a trade unionist, labor leader, and Chairman of Sandigan ng Manggagawa sa Quezon City (SMQC). At around midnight of October 26, he was illegally arrested by four non-uniformed police at his home under allegations of frustrated homicide. Cordero was profiled without an attorney for an hour, under the guise of confirming his ‘identity’.

“This is yet another attack against labor leaders. Just recently, Kara Taggaoa and Larry Valbuena of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) were arrested under patently false charges. This pattern of arresting progressive leaders using trumped-up charges just shows that the Marcos Jr. administration is as desperate to repress any form of opposition from the Filipino labor movement as was Duterte before him”, said ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy.

Banjo Cordero is now released on bail, but faces years of court processes before he might clear his name.

“With the continuing severe human rights situation in the Philippines, we reiterate our call for the High-Level Tripartite Mission of the International Labor Organization to investigate the killings of labor leaders and union members. We also urge the International Criminal Court (ICC) to conclude its investigation into the grave human rights violations of the Duterte administration, and take appropriate action”, added Murphy.

ICHRP continues to call for the international community to remain vigilant and to stand in solidarity with the Filipino people by amplifying their calls for justice from the crimes committed by all administrations past and present.

Further comment: Peter Murphy
WhatsApp +61 418 312 301

Urgent Alert
October 10, 2022

“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) calls for the immediate release of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU – May First Movement Labor Center) International Officer Kara Taggaoa, and PASODA-PISTON President Larry Valbuena, who were arrested on fabricated charges this Monday, October 10,” said ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy. “The two KMU officers were apprehended without warrant on the basis of trumped-up charges of assault, and were not afforded their full rights in the process of arrest. The fabricated charge of assault, as well as a second charge of robbery for which they served their arraignment immediately before the arrest, actually date back to a rally against the Anti-Terrorism Act in 2020. They were denied their right to due process as they were not given a chance to be heard in a preliminary investigation on the complaint against them.

“ICHRP vehemently condemns the use of these fabricated charges by the current Marcos administration to attack and threaten the militant labor center KMU and its officers,” continued Murphy. “The arrest of the two labor leaders demonstrates that the present administration won’t recognize due process and legitimate dissent, and is continuing the repression of workers and all legitimate dissent under the notorious National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict created by outgoing President Duterte at the end of 2018.

“The international community must stay vigilant in the coming months with the possibility of further attacks on the labor movement. Our call for independent investigation into the human rights situation in the Philippines is more urgent than ever. It must include but is not limited to a high-level tripartite mission by the International Labor Organization to investigate the killings of labor leaders and union members as well as on the violation of the workers’ right to organize unions and to collectively bargain, under the previous Duterte administration and the current Marcos administration.”

The two arrestees face a total bail charge of PHP 136,000 (USD2,300) for the cases of alleged robbery and assault. If you are able to contribute funds to the collective bail fund effort of KMU, you can do so by sending donations the following account:

BDO
Acct. Name: Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)
Acct. Number: 001490187039

100 days after the inauguration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, the Filipino people continue to suffer crisis and unrest. Following the tradition of his father, Marcos has repeatedly violated and ignored the rights of the Filipino people. The new administration continues to sell out the country to foreign powers while violently suppressing progressive groups who call for change. The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) calls on the Marcos administration to uphold the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of the Filipino people, and to heed the calls of the international community for investigation and accountability.

Despite Marcos’ complete omission of reports on human rights violations during his State of the Nation Address on July 25, attacks on progressive activists and organizations have continued under his watch. Among the many targeted since June 30 were Gary S. Campos, a Lumad school teacher arrested on July 17; Kyllene Casao, a nine-year-old peasant girl who was shot dead on July 19; and Percy Lapid, a broadcast journalist critical of the current administration, who was shot dead by unknown assailants on October 3. Progressives have also faced red-tagging, as in the case of 16 members of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines who were charged with providing funds to “terrorist” organizations on August 15. Ominously, Marcos Jr. has boosted the budget of the notorious red-tagging National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

Marcos’ first 100 days in office have also demonstrated a lack of genuine solutions for the economic crisis in the country. The issues of low wages, contractualization, lack of jobs, landlessness, and debt continue to plague the people, and inflation hit a four-year high in September. His economic team are technocrats who will operate interest rate and government spending levers to please markets rather than address the dire needs of the people. Marcos’ recent visits to the US, Indonesia and Singapore in September and October are notable for vacuous statements and little information. The subservience of his administration to the interests of the US is displayed in the current Kamandag naval amphibious exercises between the Philippine and US militaries.

The new administration has also failed to engage in ongoing diplomatic and judicial processes which could provide a solution to the human rights crisis. The call of the international community for independent investigation into the human rights situation, as expressed in the recommendations of Investigate PH (2021) and the International Election Observer Mission (2022), has been ignored so far, and the new government has yet to cooperate with the ongoing investigation of the International Criminal Court into massive civilian killings that took place during Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’. Marcos has also failed to continue peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, a process which has potential to end the ongoing armed conflict by addressing its root causes.

ICHRP calls on the new administration to seek genuine solutions to the problems of the Filipino people, and to address the ongoing human rights crisis through both domestic and international mechanisms. We ask the international community to remain vigilant over the next 100 days of the administration, and to continue to campaign for a just and lasting peace in the country.

Press Release
September 30, 2022

“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines [ICHRP] applauds the recent decision of International Criminal Court [ICC] Prosecutor Karim Khan to reject the request of the Philippine government to halt the investigation of allegations of serious crimes against humanity committed on its territory related to the Duterte administration’s drug war,” said ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy.

“The response of Prosecutor Khan points out the weakness of the November 2021 request of the Duterte government, which argued for suspension of the ICC investigation on the basis of jurisdiction of the tribunal, gravity of the crimes committed, and supposed domestic mechanisms which can investigate and prosecute those involved in the killings,” said Murphy.

“Khan’s response demonstrates that no such domestic mechanisms exist on a wide scale, and that no valid argument exists to dispute the jurisdiction of the ICC in regard to these alleged crimes against humanity. This is in line with the results of INVESTIGATE PH, which demonstrated a severe lack of domestic remedies to the human rights crisis in the country.”

Human rights organizations like Amnesty International estimate that the number of killings under Duterte’s drug war may be as many as 30,000. INVESTIGATE PH, an independent international investigation into the human rights situation in the Philippines carried out by civil society organizations in 2021, presented and analyzed witness testimony and forensic evidence to dispel the Philippine government claims that the thousands of victims were killed by police in self-defence. It also showed that genuine domestic mechanisms to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of the killings do not exist, despite the claims of the government.

“ICHRP upholds the call of the drug war victims and civil society at large for the cooperation of the Philippine government in the carrying out of the ICC investigation,” said Murphy. “We also reiterate the call of INVESTIGATE PH for other intergovernmental bodies, such as the United Nations Human Rights Council, to launch their own independent investigation into the current human rights situation in the country.”

“The international community must stay vigilant and hold the current and past administrations accountable until justice is achieved for all victims of these crimes against humanity,” Murphy concluded.

Statement
September 21, 2022

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) are writing to express our profound concerns at the ongoing human rights crisis in the Philippines on this 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Martial law of September 21st, 1972.

The first Marcos regime resulted in 14 years of oppressive military rule, widespread torture, imprisonment, and thousands of extra judicial killings in an ongoing attempt to crush dissent. The dictatorship also gave rise to a large bloated military command structure which has played an ever-increasing role in the country’s political life. In addition, during the Marcos family’s dictatorship between 5 to 10 billion dollars were embezzled, only a fraction of which was ever recovered, much of this wealth remains in the hands of the Marcos children and their cronies in a myriad of Swiss and offshore accounts, and properties.

The Marcos Dictatorship rather than creating sustainable growth set in motion a labour export program that exists to this day, sending a huge workforce overseas to generate foreign exchange reserves for the oligarchs and political elites. More than 10 million Filipinos now work and live abroad, of which 800,000 are in Canada. It’s the largest, fastest growing migrant group in Canada.

Fifty years on, the Philippines is at a crossroads. Over the past six years we have seen once again an accelerated drift away from democracy towards a military state. During this period there have been documented upwards of 30,000 extra judicial killings by the police and military with total impunity.

The Duterte government institutionalized the militarization of society through the NTF-ELCAC and its total war approach. The regime targeted and harassed labour activists, farmers, journalists, lawyers, environmental activists, church people and human rights advocates, scores were killed and hundreds remain in prison. In terms of accountability for human rights the legal system is largely not functioning, out of the tens of thousands of state orchestrated killings less than a handful have produced charges against the state security forces.

There are now new storm clouds on the horizon. The May 2022 elections brought the Marcos-Duterte team to the highest executive offices in the country, along with a coterie of oligarchs and family dynasties who control the Senate and Congress. Political power was purchased on a wave of ill-gotten wealth, fraud, vote buying and a highly sophisticated disinformation campaign. It was a presidential campaign funded in part by billions of dollars stolen by the Marcos family in the 1970s and 1980’s during the Martial Law period.

In the early days of the new Marcos-Duterte regime, it withdrew the Philippines from the International Criminal Court. It is an ominous sign for the respect for International Human Rights conventions and human rights in the Philippines.

The Marcos-Duterte administration has refused to engage in a peace process with the NDFP and it has continued redtagging organizations and individuals who stand against status quo. It has continued to attack and silence the press, by shutting down Rappler, one of the few critical independent media outlets in the Philippines. It intends to resume the brutal War on Drugs, generated by the Duterte Regime. It is early days, but the Bongbong Marcos rule has taken on the characteristics of the brutal Duterte Regime.

On the 50th Anniversary of one of the darkest periods in Philippine history, the human rights community are uniting in calling for an end to state violence, an end to democracy for the rich and the democratization of the economy through land reform, better wages and working conditions for the Filipino. The Filipino people cannot expect anything from a government implementing neoliberal policies which prioritizes big businesses and kowtows to the dictates of foreign powers.

We call on the international community to stand with the Filipino people’s struggle against the fascist Marcos-Duterte regime.

We call on our governments to hold the perpetrators of Human Rights violations in the Philippines accountable through existing legal mechanisms including the Magnitsky Act.

We call on our governments to hold the new Marcos Government accountable for its human rights record by ending all arms sales to the Philippines and all technical cooperation for the police and military.

We call on the International Criminal Court to vigorously pursue the case of Crimes Against Humanity against Rodrigo Duterte and those complicit in human rights violations in his government.

We call on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to review the case against the Philippines and go beyond the domestic measures compromise decision of 2021.

We are united in our declaration.

Never again to Martial Law!
Respect Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law!
End the wars on the Filipino People, stop State-sponsored violence!

International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, (ICHRP)