Press Release
August 3, 2022

Refusal of the Marcos Administration to rejoin the ICC shields Duterte and his policies of impunity and state terror, further victimizing the 30,000 that were summarily executed in the Duterte regime’s wars on drugs; on dissent; and on the Moro people.

“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines [ICHRP] is extremely disappointed but not surprised by the new Marcos administration’s decision to keep the Philippines outside the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court [ICC],” said ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy today. “This is part of the continued and ongoing state cover-up of crimes against humanity.”

ICHRP believes the confirmation that the Philippines is out of the ICC is an ominous sign for human rights as the only rationale for not being under its jurisdiction is to shelter perpetrators from prosecution and the intention to continue committing such crimes.   

Despite this deplorable decision by the Marcos government, there remain grounds for the continued investigation of Duterte presidency’s alleged crimes against humanity. 

In June 2021, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda reported that there were sufficient grounds for a full investigation into the crime against humanity of murder committed in connection with the country’s ‘war on drugs’ between 1 July 2016 and 16 March 2019. ICHRP urges that this full investigation be vigorously pursued and not be stalled by continued false claims that the Philippine judicial system is functioning and can address any concerns about these alleged gross violations of human rights.

“The findings of the First and Second Reports of the Independent International Commission of Investigation into Human Rights Violations in the Philippines (Investigate PH) clearly showed the flaws and failure of the domestic remedies,” said Murphy.

The Philippine courts had managed to convict only two police officers for the 2017 murder of 17 year-old Kian Delos Santos. This was one case of the 6,011 officially recorded up to the end of 2020. This case only succeeded because the Barangay Captain had failed to switch off the CCTV which recorded the police abduction of Kian. 

Investigate PH also dispelled the Philippine government claims that the thousands of victims of the ‘war on drugs’ were killed by police in self-defence. It presented forensic evidence to the ICC of victims with defensive wounds, of victims who had been bound before being killed. But there are probably over 30,000 cases of these police killings in anti-drug operations, based on statistics of “Deaths Under Investigation”. And now the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency no longer reports deaths in anti-drug operations, on their Real Numbers PH webpage.

“A review – of 5,655 cases – was first promised by Justice Secretary Guevarra to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2020,” said Murphy. In February 2021 Secretary Guevarra reported that just 328 cases had been reviewed, revealing no proper crime scene investigation in more than half the cases. 

“ICHRP has full confidence in the impartiality of the ICC. We reiterate that the ICC should vigorously pursue the full investigation of the previous Duterte administration for these alleged crimes against humanity so that, finally, justice may be served and impunity ended,” Murphy said.

ICHRP initiated the Investigate PH project, under which an independent international commission conducted its three-part investigation on the extrajudicial killings, illegal arrests, abductions and disappearances, and breaches of collective human rights in the Philippines since 2016 when President Duterte came into power. #

For comment: Peter Murphy, Chairperson, ICHRP Global Council +61 418 312 301 chairperson@ichrp.net

Press Release
July 26, 2022

The Filipino people have spelt out the real suffering state of the nation and this should be the basis of the Marcos plan of action – ICHRP

“The People’s State-of-the-Nation street rally yesterday told the incoming Marcos Presidency that the real problems to address are the skyrocketing prices of goods and services, the hell-like traffic gridlocks, rapidly declining value of the Peso, almost weekly increase in the prices of fuel, million-dollar foreign loans, declining real wages, massive landlessness and poverty, intensifying natural disasters, and corruption in government agencies,” said Peter Murphy, Chairperson of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP).

“What we have seen thus far is Marcos’ secret vacation to Australia, the luxurious exclusive victory parties with the oligarchs, and a grand movie project to repackage the Marcos family as victims and the Filipino people as – in the words of its creator – the ‘thieves of power’ – all amid the very pressing hardships faced by their citizens,” he added.

In his first State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA), Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. had no qualms in repeating the economic policies of his predecessors, promising to extend the VAT to digital services which will hit the poor, to liberalise foreign investment, promote more special economic zones, and expand the Public Private Partnership system – all opportunities for the oligarchs and his selected cronies to further plunder the coffers of the nation and squeeze consumers of public services. 

Marcos Jr. paid lip service to the climate crisis, but promised to expand natural gas use and even build nuclear power stations!

He made no mention at all of human rights. “This is not surprising especially with his father’s – Ferdinand Marcos Sr. – notorious record of Martial Law and human rights violations. This means that the climate of impunity continues, a very dangerous situation for the Filipino people. There’s a pressing need for the international community to increase their vigilance and action,” Murphy warned.

“Marcos Jr and his family have long waited for this moment to be back in Malacañang. If they had a sincere desire to serve the Filipino people they would have long ago put forward sound, realistic proposals and mobilized significant amounts of their own wealth to invest in the various government posts that they have held.

“We from the international community extend our solidarity to the people who yesterday exercised their right to peaceful assembly to show the true state of the nation. We urge the dictator’s son not to follow his father’s cruel and bloody footsteps, and instead to work with his critics and the Filipino people’s movements who do have realistic, specific proposals to help solve the pressing problems of the Philippines to achieve just, peaceful and genuine development,” Murphy concluded.

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Statement
July 24, 2022

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) is not surprised that the NTF-ELCAC is recommending against peace talks to the Marcos administration. “Addressing the injustices at the root of the longstanding armed conflict in the Philippines requires brains to carefully study the situation, as well as a heart and hard work to effectively address that. But Lorraine Badoy and her cohorts have learned from the master Rodrigo Duterte well. They have exhibited not only how lazy and heartless they are but also how they have enjoyed the red-tagging and killing spree against civilian activists,” said ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy.

Previous peace talks have broken down because of the government’s lack of political will to pursue peace and sustainable development based on truth and justice. All the government wanted was for the New People’s Army to lay down their arms without resolving the roots of the armed conflict and implementing genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization. All the government cared about was to continue trampling on the people’s rights and plundering their communities. The contrived localized talks and granting of amnesty and payments to “surrenderees” are convenient for them because they corrupt these payments instead of really spending for genuine, sustainable development for all. This approach has not addressed the root causes of and will only prolong or make the conflict a vicious cycle.

We reiterate our support for the new National Security Adviser Dr. Clarita Carlos’ call of doing away with the Duterte-Badoy NTF-ELCAC’s lazy, impatient, and blood-thirsty approach to ending the conflict. Let us all remember that the conflict remains because abuse, exploitation and oppression of the majority by the elite and their foreign masters remain and intensify. We urge Dr. Carlos and the Marcos administration to opt to work hard and smart – that is, to genuinely deliver social justice to all the marginalized and oppressed, which necessitates national-level peace talks.

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Update as of July 21, 2022: the family was able to see Gary. He was brought to court at Bayugan branch for a trumped-up charge of attempted murder, but brought back to Butuan. A bail of P120K was recommended. If the bail is not paid within one week, he’ll be transferred to Bayugan Jail.

Urgent Alert
July 20, 2022

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) denounces the arrest of Gary S. Campos, a volunteer teacher of a community school in Tandag City, Surigao del Sur on Sunday, July 17 at around 1 pm.

Campos was on his way to a teacher’s licensure exam review center when he was arrested by members of the Philippine National Police – Caraga.

At around 8 pm of the same day, he was allowed to make a call to some friends to inform them that he was detained at the Butuan City Police Station. Campos told friends that he was presented a warrant of arrest for an unknown case.

Campos is a Lumad-Manobo who graduated from the Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur (TRIFPSS) and the Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV). He graduated with an education degree at the St. Theresa’s College-Tandag. After graduation, he volunteered as a teacher for TRIFPSS. Campos is also a member Malahuyatong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunid (MAPASU), a Lumad organization at the forefront in defending the Andap Valley Complex against foreign large-scale coal mining.

This alert will be updated as soon as information is available.

#FreeGaryCampos
#DefendAndapValley
#FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners

Press Release
June 30, 2022

“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) joins the global chorus condemnation of Rodrigo Duterte’s 11^th hour effort to close down Rappler.com. This is another serious violation of civil and political rights. We salute Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and her staff for defying the shutdown order,” said Peter Murphy, Chairperson of the ICHRP Global Council today.

“Duterte is having his last-minute revenge against critics, and appears to be locking in the incoming administration to ever harsher repression. We call on the new administration to cancel these orders and to stop the red tagging of critics, fake charges, long detentions without trial and extrajudicial killings,” Murphy said. “The 700 political prisoners, starting with Senator de Lima, must be freed”.

On June 28, just two days before his presidency ends, Duterte’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reaffirmed a 2018 order revoking the certificates of incorporation of Rappler and Rappler Holding Corporation, effectively abolishing their corporate existence.

Next day, Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Laureate, said, “We have been harassed, this is intimidation, these are political tactics and we refuse to succumb to them.” Rappler’s lawyers initiated an appeal and Rappler has continued to publish.

This attack on high-profile Rappler comes after the National Security Council (NSC) ordered internet service providers to block news websites, including Bulatlat.com, using the Anti-Terrorism Law, which ICHRP has condemned. Bulatlat continues to publish.

The latest attack on Rappler, as well as the attacks on Bulatlat.com and Pinoy Weekly, were condemned by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), saying these plunged the country’s media into uncertain waters.

The International Federation of Journalists called for the blocking of news websites in the Philippines to stop.

The Philippines now ranks 147th out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) press freedom index. In 2020, ABS-CBN, the largest network, was ordered to cease free-to-air operations after it was denied a new broadcast license, and now relies on an internet platform.

Duterte reacts personally to criticism of his policies, especially the war on poor people in the guise of a ’war on drugs’, and both ABS-CBN and Rappler have been consistent critics. Senator Leila de Lima has been jailed on fabricated charges for five years because she challenged this policy from the start.

Ressa has faced 10 arrest warrants since 2019 and is appealing a conviction for alleged cyber libel that has a six-year jail sentence. “This legal warfare against Maria Ressa, and against all civilian critics must stop”, Murphy concluded.

Further comment: Peter Murphy +61 418 312 301