Press Release
June 27, 2022

“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) strenuously condemns the Duterte administration’s order in its dying days to block 27 critical websites in an effort to lock the incoming Marcos-Duterte administration into ever harsher repression of civilian dissent,” said Peter Murphy, chairperson of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP).

On June 6, 2022, the President’s National Security Council (NSC), on the advice of outgoing National Security Advisor Hermogenes Esperon Jr., called on the National Telecommunications Commission to shut down the sites because they were “found to be affiliated to and are supporting terrorists and terrorist organizations”. On June 8, the NTC dutifully imposed the blocking orders. The NSC is an executive body acting outside any judicial process, and is simply denouncing individuals and organizations as “terrorist” without any evidence being tested.

“Duterte’s suppression of internet communication is a violation of the civil and political rights of the people to freedom of speech and communication,” said Murphy. “This kind of repression is now routinely applied in China, India and Iran, and the international community needs to sharply criticise all these governments.”

Continuing its crude red tagging of legal civilian organizations, the NSC declared that the websites of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) were in the same category as the websites of the religious organisation the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, the broad network supporting Lumad schools in Mindanao – Save Our schools, the longstanding legal organization of peasant women AMIHAN, the agricultural workers union UMA, the huge multi-sectoral alliance of legal organizations BAYAN, the legal fisherfolk organization PAMALAKAYA, and a string of Filipino news sites that report peasant and worker news – Pinoy Weekly, Bulatalat (listed twice!), Taga-Ilog News, Partisa-News, Peoples Resist News, and Arkibong Bayan, an online photographic archive of legal protest actions.

And the ban even extended to non-Filipino leftist sites which perhaps the National Telecommunications Commission cannot block – the International Action Center in the USA, Counter Punch in the USA, Monthly Review in the USA, and the International League of Peoples Struggles, whose site is hosted outside the Philippines.

“ICHRP condemns this order to block the websites of the underground revolutionary movement and the legal groups critical of its anti-people policies as a calculated move against any possibility of renewed peace talks between the incoming Marcos Jr. administration and the NDFP,” said Murphy.

“Renewing the peace talks is the best way to reduce the high levels of political violence in the Philippines, and to grapple with the key social conflicts underlying this violence – land reform, strengthening national economic capacity and democratic reform,” he said.

ICHRP and the international community, through the June 2020 Report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and three reports of Investigate PH in 2021, knows that Duterte is a massive violator of human rights. Democratic institutions in the Philippines and around the world have slammed him for his heinous crimes against humanity in the guise of the “war on drugs” and “war on terrorism”. It is estimated that over 30,000 unarmed civilians have been killed in police and military operations in the last six years.

“No amount of misinformation, disinformation, historical distortion, fake news, and distasteful language can cover that up what Duterte has done and stop the people from exposing the truth,” Murphy said. 

“Now that Rodrigo Duterte is set to leave office and lose his immunity, he wants to hide the economic horrors and the continuing brutality towards the poor which reveal the true Duterte legacy: that he and his cronies only enriched themselves at the expense of the people,” said Murphy.

“One big lesson from our longstanding partnerships with Filipino organizations and this year’s Philippine Election 2022 International Observer Mission is that the Filipino people have suffered throughout the Duterte administration, have no confidence in the incoming administration, deeply distrust the political system, and are determined to fight for their rights. 

“We in the international community understand that no matter the Filipino people’s patience and resilience, they have their limits. And the greater the repression, the greater the resistance. The banning of these 27 websites will not do Sara Duterte and Marcos Jr. any good, so we urge the incoming administration to not anger the people any further, to withdraw this latest oppressive action,” Murphy said. 

“We urge the incoming President to direct his officials to address the daily woes and the deep-seated roots of public dissent: he should support genuine agrarian reform, subsidize agriculture to feed the country, and scrap the oil deregulation law and oil taxes to ease the transport and commuter/worker sector’s daily burden,” he said.

“We know that the progressive people’s organizations who are now being attacked are asserting proposals to solve problem and are ready to cooperate as long as the people’s welfare are genuinely prioritized and addressed,” Murphy concluded.

Further comment: Peter Murphy +61 418 312 301

Note: this statement was originally published May 6, 2022

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines condemns a police red tagging and harassment attack against a human rights advocate on April 10 in Manila. The primary target of this harassment was Joe Iosbaker, an American Human Rights volunteer from Chicago, who arrived in Manila on April 3.

In the afternoon of April 10 three tarpaulins (large vinyl banners) were found in front of the hotel in Quezon City where Joe Iosbaker was staying. More of the same banners hung at a nearby human rights office housed in the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) building. The tarpaulins contained the name and a picture of Iosbaker and the text said:

• “Ally of Communist Terrorist Group” 
• “Don’t meddle with PH affairs. You’re not welcome here!”
• “You’re not welcome here in our country. Get out!”

The hotel security guards reported that the CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, a branch of the Philippine National Police) had hung the tarpaulins. At that point, concerned for his personal security, Iosbaker transferred hotels and his things were collected later.

Further, at 8.30am that day a small protest group gathered in front of National Council of Churches of the Philippines Building. There was a speaker, they were holding placards and were hiding their faces behind the placards. Written on the placards were – ‘banyagang terorista, alyado ng komunista, layas!” (Foreign terrorist ally of Communists, Out!).

Iosbaker appears to have come to the attention of the CIDG during an April 9 meeting with a partylist candidate, Ms Amirah Lidasan, at a coffee shop in Manila. Lidasan is the third nominee for Bayan Muna (People First) Partylist in the May 9 National Elections. Sadly, it is typical of Filipino politics that a person like Ms Lidasan is considered a national security threat and is placed under such intense surveillance for advocating democratic change.

The CIDG office is in the same building as the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), not far from Iosbaker’s hotel. The CIDG is described as the primary investigation arm of the Philippine National Police yet their function appears to involve black ops against human rights defenders.

These vinyl banners are a standard form of red tagging in the Philippines, deployed against unarmed civilians by the NTF-ELCAC, to intimidate these civilians into silence and implicitly threaten violent attack. Many people whose images appear on these banners also receive threatening text messages and many have been assassinated. But it is rare for a non-Filipino to be threatened in this way.

Clearly a significant amount of police resources was dedicated to the identification of Joe Iosbaker, the production of materials for the public vilification campaign, and the orchestration of a protest action at the NCCP Office.

ICHRP strongly protests at the red tagging of this non-Filipino human rights advocate and the associated threat of violence against him, and the intense surveillance of Ms Lidasan. ICHRP calls on the Philippine authorities, including the Commission on Human Rights, to investigate this incident and to take action against those responsible. The Philippine government owes Mr. Iosbaker a sincere apology. ICHRP calls on the U.S. government to formally protest to the Philippine government over this incident.

Further comment: Peter Murphy +61 418 312 301 chairperson@ichrp.net

Statement
June 22, 2022

“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines is deeply alarmed at the terrorist listing of retired NDFP Peace Panel Chief Negotiator, Luis Jalandoni, and five others, by the Anti-Terrorism Council, the latest in the unabated terrorist-tagging by the outgoing Duterte administration,” said Mr Peter Murphy, Chairperson of the ICHRP Global Council.

“This indicates that Duterte and his team seek to cause even more harm despite their already unrivalled bloody record over the last six years. If anyone is a terrorist, it is Duterte.”

Duterte’s Anti-Terrorism Council is a non-judicial executive body of mainly military and police officers, and made the declaration on June 15 through its Resolution No. 31 that the six are members of the New People’s Army – Communist Party of the Philippines – National Democratic Front of the Philippines. [1] Such declarations are arbitrary, are outside any judicial process, and endanger the lives not only of those terror-tagged but also of their families and networks. The legal effect is to freeze any assets of those listed, and the political effect is to intimidate anyone who calls for progressive change, justice and peace.

Luis Jalandoni has worked for the NDFP in the Netherlands since 1976. “He went to the Netherlands to inform the international community about the people’s struggles against the Marcos Dictatorship and to enable meaningful negotiations through peace talks with the Philippine government on behalf of the poor Filipino people precisely to end the armed conflict,” said Murphy.

“It is absurd and outrageous that the Philippine government continues to persecute people based on their political ideas and that it has reversed President Ramos’ 1992 action to recognise the legality of the CPP. [2]

“The Duterte administration knows that communist parties elsewhere in the world are considered legal, and itself negotiates with the Chinese government led by the Communist Party of China,” said Murphy. “Jalandoni’s work with the NDFP to put forward meaningful reforms targeting the root causes of the people’s armed revolution is not in any way terrorism but rather the way to just and lasting peace.

“This absurd terrorist-tagging is a smokescreen for the final days of Duterte’s administration, marked -as he promised in 2016 – by a bloody war against the poor in the guise of a ‘war on drugs’, by political killings and political detentions, and by his capitulation to Chinese “communist” encroachment on the Philippines Exclusive Economic Zone at the cost of poor Filipino fisher folk,” said Murphy.

In stark contrast, Luis Jalandoni turned away from his wealthy family roots after being persistently confronted by the struggles of poor peasants during his work as a Catholic priest, to join the CPP and the NDFP, working for peace with justice for the people. 

The incoming Marcos Jr. administration is attempting to redeem the family’s name by committing to uphold human rights at a recent meeting with a United Nations official. [3] His incoming National Security Adviser Dr. Clarita Carlos said that human security is national security, and that can be achieved by upholding people’s social, economic, cultural and political rights. She decried red tagging.

“This latest terror-tagging intimidates and the people will respond with stronger resistance, demonstrating that the Anti-Terrorism Law and the Anti-Terrorism Council are counterproductive. The only way to genuine, lasting peace is justice, and both terrorist-tagging and red-tagging executive bodies, the NTF-ELCAC and the ATL and its ATC should be abolished immediately by the incoming Marcos Jr. administration,” concluded Mr. Murphy.

[1] https://politics.com.ph/2022/06/15/verified-validated-ndf-leader-luis-jalandoni-among-6-designated-terrorists
[2] https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1992/09/02/speech-of-president-ramos-at-the-signing-of-the-bill-repealing-the-anti-subversion-law
[3] https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1176399

Urgent Alert
June 21, 2022

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) urges the Duterte government to stop the surveillance, red tagging and harassment of progressive partylists and activists following a spate of post-election incidents. ICHRP likewise calls on the public, including the international community, to be vigilant and vocal against these continuing illegal acts by Philippine state agents.

ICHRP has received reports that on June 13, 2022, at around 8pm, freshly painted posters tagging as “terorista” (terrorists) and “demonyo” (devil) progressive partylist groups Kabataan, Gabriela, and ACT Teachers were thrown right in front of two buildings in Barangay Central, Quezon City, which house the national offices of various progressive organizations. One is the location of Kalikasan and the Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC). The other is that of Karapatan human rights alliance, BAYAN multisectoral alliance, National Union of People’s Lawyers, and Kodao Productions. In both instances, a vehicle was seen stopping by shortly before the staff saw the posters.

A few hours earlier, at around 4pm, two uniformed men were seen in the street, one of them taking photos in the direction of the Kalikasan and CEC office gate. Before this, on June 9, 2022, a plainclothes policeman knocked at the office asking if it was No. 260 Matulungin St (strange because the gate had a big # 26 on it) and looking for a certain individual and, after being told that they might have gone to the wrong address as such a person is unknown there, took a “selfie” with the caretaker. As the caretaker closed the gate, he saw that the policeman was accompanied by another and that they took the same police vehicle. This office has documented many instances of surveillance, red tagging, and even an attempted raid since 2018. CEC and Kalikasan are staunch advocates of the environment and the human rights of its defenders and have worked with eminent institutions such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the United Nations Human Rights System, and the Commission on Human Rights.

Previously, posters with names and pictures of Karapatan national officers were seen in streets in their office vicinity. Numerous other attacks by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) were documented and brought to the attention of local authorities, the Commission on Human Rights, UN Special Procedures, and the UN High Commission on Human Rights.

“ICHRP, as a steadfast international solidarity network for the oppressed Filipino people, calls on the international community to speak out against the continuing surveillance, red tagging, and harassment and all other forms of intimidation and rights violations against activists in the Philippines, including the mass arbitrary arrest and detention on June 9, 2022, of 97 agrarian reform beneficiaries and advocates in the province of Tarlac, and the arrest of environment defender Daisy Macapanpan,” said Mr Peter Murphy, Chairperson of the ICHRP Global Council.

“We urge the Duterte administration to make his last few days in office clear of any form of rights violations of government critics.

“We urge the incoming Marcos Jr. administration to prove that the commitment to human rights accountability he assured to the United Nations is not just an ‘aspiration’. The President-elect can start with the abolition of the chief red tagger, NTF-ELCAC, and the repeal of the Anti-Terrorism Law (ATL). The NTF-ELCAC and ATL are tools of state terrorism against anyone and everyone who speaks out against anti-people measures,” said Mr. Murphy

“We hope that incoming National Security Adviser Dr. Clarita Carlos will work hard to do this, and to address the root causes of social conflict – by heeding the calls of the people, not with band aid solutions but with genuine national development,” concluded Mr. Murphy.

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Press Release
June 20, 2022

“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) calls for the vexatious perjury case against Ms. Cristina Palabay and other leading human rights advocates in the Philippines to be withdrawn when Ms. Palabay presents her pleading today in court in Manila,” said Mr. Peter Murphy, Chairperson of the ICHRP Global Council.

“In the Orwellian world of the Philippines security cluster, those who seek court protection from state harassment and murder must be further victimized with trumped up charges designed to paralyze their work. This grave abuse of the judicial system must stop.”

As the brutal Duterte administration comes to its end, Karapatan Alliance for Human Rights, the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) and Gabriela Women’s Alliance continue to be dragged through the courts on malicious, retaliatory charges of perjury filed by outgoing National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., after they sought legal protection from the Supreme Court through a Petition for the Writs of Amparo and Habeas Data in May 2019.

President Duterte’s Executive Order 70 in December 2018 created the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), leading to intensifying red tagging of Karapatan, RMP and Gabriela, and other civil society organizations asserting human rights. There was increased surveillance, death threats, arrests and extrajudicial killings of their members. In this context, Karapatan, RMP and Gabriela filed the petitions. The petitions sought some protection from this increased threat of state repression, and were granted on May 30, 2019, but denied in the Court of Appeal on June 28, 2019. The battle for these petitions is still in the court system.

Two of the Karapatan witnesses listed to give evidence in these court hearings were assassinated before they could appear – Ryan Hubilla in June 2019 and Zara Alvarez in August 2020.

In retaliation for the petition, on July 2, 2019, National Security Adviser Esperon Jr. filed a Complaint-Affidavit for perjury against Cristina Palabay and seven other Karapatan National Council members, as well as Gabriela Chairperson Gertrudes Ranjo Libang, Gabriela Secretary General Joan Mae Salvador, RMP National Coordinator Sr. Elenita Belardo, and RMP Northern Mindanao Region Coordinator Sr. Emma Cupin.

Esperon Jr. alleged that those named committed perjury when they stated in their Petition that the RMP is a “duly registered as a non-stock, non-profit corporation under Philippine laws.” According to Esperon Jr., “the SEC already revoked the Certificate of Registration of RMP on August 20, 2003 for its failure to submit the required General Information Sheets and Financial Statements from 1997 to 2003”. In fact, the SEC has continued to accept RMP’s financial statements. It is this spurious charge that Ms Palabay is facing today.

Karapatan is one of the leading independent voices on human rights in the Philippines. It is widely recognized by the international community for its capable and determined defense of human rights despite the challenges of doing advocacy in the Philippines. In June 2021, the US-based Human Rights First presented Karapatan with the William D. Zabel Human Rights Award for the Advancement of People’s Rights. In December 2021 Germany and France awarded Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay this year’s Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and Rule of Law for her tireless dedication to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines.

RMP is a national organization of women and men – religious, priests and lay – who dedicate their lives to educating and working with the rural poor farmers and agricultural workers for genuine agrarian reform, the fisherfolk for genuine aquatic reform, and the indigenous peoples for land and self-determination, towards attainment of the fullness of life, justice, freedom and integrity of creation.

The serious violation of human rights in the Philippines was subsequently exposed by the report of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms Michelle Bachelet in June 2020, and by the three reports by the Independent International Commission of Investigation into Human Rights Violations in the Philippines (INVESTIGATE PH) in 2021.

“ICHRP strongly condemns the ongoing harassment and protests at the red tagging of these organizations. ICHRP and its global civil society networks stand with Karapatan, RMP and Gabriela in the face of these lawfare attacks. We call on the Philippine government to stop the attacks on these important independent civil society voices,” concluded Mr. Murphy.

For further comment: Peter Murphy +61 418 312 301

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