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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Yes to Ending Red-tagging and Addressing the Root Causes of Insurgency

Press Release
June 18, 2022

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) welcomes the statement by incoming National Security Adviser Dr. Clarita Carlos in which she said the red-tagging should stop and that the inequalities and injustices that are at the roots of the country’s long standing insurgency should be addressed.

We in the international community, having observed, lived and partnered with various marginalized and oppressed sectors of Philippine society, know full well how hardworking and persevering Filipinos are in the midst of any adversity – be it natural calamities or human atrocities, whether locally or overseas. We know full well how badly and for how long they have been yearning to live a life free of exploitation, abuse, and violence, and how they were and are not complicit in any Philippine President’s human rights abuses.

We agree with Dr. Carlos that human security is the road to Philippine national security and that this must be the top priority. We understand how centuries of landlord greed and violence have buried and continue to bury Filipinos deep into poverty and starvation; and how centuries of corruption and profiteering by the government in partnership with landlords and local and foreign businesses have impoverished and subjected the Filipino poor to state-instigated violence. And we understand that where there is exploitation and violence, people either become helpless victims or they fight back.

Ending red-tagging is a great first move. Indeed, red tagging achieves nothing in terms of attaining peace, but only attempts to intimidate and silence critics and puts more and more people in danger. We are keen to see immediate results including the abolition of the number one red-tagger, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, and repeal of the Anti -Terror Law, which serves as its legal basis. We also hope she will push for the passage of a bill[1] that classifies red-tagging as a human rights violation with accompanying punishment. We also urge Dr. Carlos to call for ending all forms of human rights violations and for urgently serving justice beginning with the survivors of Martial Law, the families of the victims of tokhang, all political prisoners, and victims of illegal and arbitrary arrests and detention such as the 97 Tinang farmers, among many others.

We agree with her that a militaristic approach never works, and that in achieving human security and ending insurgency, there must be a national strategy that ties together the different aspects of Philippine politics and economy and that gives people opportunities. At the same time, we understand that the insurgents, peace advocates, and the Filipino people in general have long been calling for genuine land reform, for decent jobs with living wages at home, an end to forced migration, for the respect of their basic freedoms and rights. We are aware that the insurgents and various peace advocates have presented their draft of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms that will ensure genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization, and wait for Dr. Carlos to work with concerned groups on an action plan that will finally make this possible.

This being a solution to a national problem requires a national-level discussion, agreement and implementation. Local peace councils alone have been a “divide and conquer” strategy that has given superficial livelihood, road and housing projects, conducted psywar operations, and only served the interests of landlords and businesses in keeping control of the country’s lands and natural resources.

ICHRP is committed to supporting the Filipino people in their assertion and defense of human rights and will await Dr. Carlos’s next pronouncements and actions in addressing these. While Dr. Carlos is optimistic that Marcos Jr will not abandon the liberal democracy path, ICHRP believes this falls well short of the  Filipino people’s calls for genuine national democracy. #

June 10, 2022

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) calls for the release of some 97 agrarian reform beneficiaries and agrarian reform advocates nabbed in Tarlac on the eve of the 34th year of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARP).The CARP was originally passed under the Aquino government in 1988 and those arrested were advocates and beneficiaries of a genuine agrarian reform program.

Policemen arrested around 100 agrarian reform beneficiaries and agrarian reform advocates at Hacienda Tinang, Concepcion, Tarlac on June 9, 2022 at around 1pm. This included 6 farmers, 30 students including one journalist from mainstream media, 11 researchers, 45 peasant advocates, 2 senior citizens, 3 drivers and 4 minors (whom police will only release to the Department of Social Welfare and Development).

Prior to the arrests, local police had ordered the legitimate agrarian reform beneficiaries to stop the bungkalan (collective farming) in Hacienda Tinang, and attempted to arrest Felino Cunanan, Jr., chairperson of the land reform advocacy group MAKISAMA-Tinang. The police later returned to disrupt the mobilization and peaceful program that had just started.

Among the arrested are those beneficiaries promised land through the CARP. Despite confirming the arrested farmers were legitimate beneficiaries under CARP and that the issue was land dispute-related, local representatives of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said they would not interfere in the repressive actions of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

The police aggressively targeted anyone within reach, and eventually seized the belongings and placed in custody three members of MAKISAMA-Tinang: Felino Cunanan Jr., Ophelia Cunanan, and Alvin Dimarucot.

Police surrounded and dismantled the hut where more than 90 advocates sought refuge during the violent disruption. They were tagged as NPA and have been held, with the arrested farmers, at the PNP Concepcion precinct since 1pm on June 9, 2022. They are reportedly set for inquest and charged with obstruction of justice, some with alleged malicious mischief.

ICHRP joins the Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura’s (Union of Workers in Agriculture) and calls on the international community to demand the immediate release of the those arrested, and to pressure the DAR to defend the agrarian reform beneficiaries who, since 1995, are being robbed of their right to till their land.

“Agrarian reform beneficiaries and advocates, and their activities to advance agrarian reform, should not be criminalized. The use of bungkalan (collective farming) to help sustain daily food subsistence in order to survive is not a crime,” said Peter Murphy, ICHRP chairperson.