The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, a global network of various organizations investigating the human rights situation in the Philippines, vigorously condemned the killing of an elderly couple in Sorsogon who were known political activists connected to the partylist group, Anakpawis.

Rosemarie Galias, 68, and Silvestre Fortades Jr, 70, were killed by four motorcycle riding gunmen in Barcelona, Sorsogon on January 15, 2022. Both were members of Anakpawis, the progressive partylist which represents the interests of peasants and workers in Congress, as part of the Makabayan Bloc.

“The murder of the elderly political activist couple, is the beginning of state murders in the presidential election campaign period, and must be vigorously condemned,” said ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy. “Our heart goes out to the families and comrades of these two martyrs of the people’s cause,” he added.

The students, peasants, workers and human rights organisations in Sorsogon and the whole Bicol Region have suffered terrible repression during the Duterte period. Up to August last year, there were 60 political killings in Bicol out of a total of 421 nationwide. There are also 43 political prisoners from the region, 10 of whome are women, and 29 have been arrested during the Duterte presidency.

The Sorsogon killings come in the heels of the illegal arrest and detention of five residents in the fishing community of Patungan Cove in Cavite after a violent demolition on January 13.

“ICHRP is gravely concerned that the repression under Duterte which we have investigated thoroughly last year will only intensify in this election campaign period because the President’s strategy to protect himself politically with the next President has already fallen apart,” said Murphy.

“ICHRP shares the grave concerns of Filipinos at the prospect of a Marcos presidency and is on high alert to expose violations of human rights, intimidation and cheating in the campaign now unfolding,” Murphy concluded.

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

ICHRP Statement on the 35^th Anniversary of the Mendiola Massacre

Today marks the 35th anniversary of a horrific crime perpetrated by Philippine state security forces against a peaceful farmers’ protest calling for land reform on Mendiola outside the Presidential Palace on January 22, 1987. The Mendiola Massacre clearly showed that the response of Corazon Aquino’s government to peasant demands for land reform was no different than that of her predecessor, the ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos. In the intervening years, peasants have been continually denied the promise of land to the tiller. Every time they attempt to pursue their claims for land reform, they are attacked by state security forces and landlord goon squads.

Today, we remember the 13 martyrs who were struck down in the struggle for land reform at Mendiola: Danilo Arjona, Leopoldo Alonzo, Adelfa Aribe, Dionisio Bautista, Roberto Caylao, Vicente Campomanes, Ronilo Dumanico, Dante Evangelio, Angelito Gutierrez, Rodrigo Grampan, Bernabe Laquindanum, Sonny Boy Perez, and Roberto Yumul. These landless peasants stood for justice 35 years ago, peacefully protesting for the just claim of land to the tiller, but were instead given land six feet below the ground. They were struck down as military and police opened fire on crowds of protesters at Mendiola. 

The Aquino government came to power on the coat tails of the popular People Power uprising against the Marcos Regime. Mrs. Aquino rightfully critiqued the Marcos agrarian reforms as a “mockery” and not “genuine” during her campaign against the dictator. Eleven months into her presidency, however, Aquino had made no progress despite the constitutional power to mandate a genuine agrarian reform program. Aquino left it to the landlord-dominated Congress to decide on the issue and the lack of progress did not sit well with the farmers.  

Street protests led by the Kilusang Magbubukid sa Pilipinas (KMP) started on January 15, 1987, when the KMP camped outside the offices of the Ministry of Agrarian Reform in Quezon City. Among their demands were land to the tiller with no compensation and zero retention limits for landlords. The lack of progress on their demands for land reform eventually led to the march on Malacañang on January 22 involving about 12 to 15,000 protesters. They had marched to within about 50 meters of police and military lines, when the soldiers opened fire. 

Among the protesters, 13 people died on the streets, and 39 were severely injured as a result of gunshot wounds. There are accounts stating that  another 12 to 19 additional protesters eventually succumbed to their wounds. Twelve more sustained minor injuries. According to some accounts, as many as 62 were injured. There were no one deaths on the other side of the barricade among police and military forces. 

The massacre was a fascist attack on the people’s democratic rights, not even a year after the overthrow of the Marcos dictatorship. The casualties went beyond the immediate victims. The massacre sabotaged nascent peace negotiations between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Aquino government. It was a sign that the increasingly powerful military established under the US-Marcos dictatorship would continue to be a looming shadow over the political process and would actively work to undo any threat to the semi-feudal semi-colonial system.

The Duterte regime has perpetuated violence against peasant land reform and peasant advocates. The entirety of his almost six-year repressive regime has seen widespread human rights violations perpetrated by security forces under Duterte’s “shoot-to-kill” and arbitrary arrest policies. This could be described as the Duterte Massacre. Philippine sources (Karapatan) have reported over 23,000 killed in the anti-poor War on Drugs, over 1,000 civilians killed in the War on the Moro People, and a sharp rise in political killings. As of August 2021, there have been 421 extrajudicial killings. Up to June 2021 there have been no less than 25 massacres documented by human rights organizations under the Duterte administration.

35 years after Mendiola the Philippines is a killing ground for alleged drug suspects, peasant activists, political dissidents, community organizers, indigenous peoples and human rights advocates. The Duterte Regime has institutionalized the killing of dissenters, placing human rights defenders and government critics and all those working to improve the lives of ordinary Filipinos in grave danger. As we mark a day of remembrance for the victims of Mendiola, ICHRP also denounces the ongoing human rights tragedy that has unfolded in the Philippines under the Duterte Regime.  

On this the anniversary of the Mendiola Massacre we renew the call for land to the tiller, for genuine land reform. We call for an end to the regressive semi-feudal system in the Philippines that has institutionalized human rights violations.  

Bring Justice for Mendiola Massacre Victims!

Land to the Landless!

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) strongly condemns the killings of Rose Marie Galias and Silvestre Fortades Jr. at around 7am on January 15, 2022, in Barcelona, Sorsogon. The couple were both members of Anakpawis, a progressive partylist which represents the interests of peasants and workers in Congress. They were selling agricultural produce at their store when they were approached and shot dead by four unidentified men riding on two motorcycles.

The killings of Rose Marie Galias and Silvestre Fortades Jr. took place in the context of the Duterte administration’s brutal war of suppression against progressive activists and organizations of peasants, workers, Indigenous Peoples, human rights defenders, and others. Only two days before on January 13, dozens of fisherfolk were violently dispersed by police in Maragondon, Cavite.

As documented in the three reports of Investigate PH, the human rights of peasants have been repeatedly violated through stalling of land reform, liberalization of rice and other imported agricultural goods, red-tagging of peasant organizations, intimidation and arrest of peasant activists, and extra-judicial killings.

ICHRP calls for justice for Rose Marie Galias and Silvestre Fortades Jr., and justice for all victims of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines.

Justice for Rose Marie Galias and Silvestre Fortades Jr.!

Stop the Killings!

“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) views with deep concern the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Republic Act (RA) 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 even though it invalidated provisions on criminalizing protest and other modes of dissent, and terrorist designations from requests of other countries,” said Peter Murphy, the Chairperson of its Global Council today.

“Dangerous provisions such as the Executive Branch’s power to detain suspects for 24 days even without any suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and the exclusive power of the Anti-Terror Council to designate persons and organizations as terrorist were upheld by the Court on December 9, on the eve of the day when we should be celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” said Murphy. “This sidelines the judiciary and endangers the lives of freedom loving Filipinos. By declaring the Anti-Terror law as constitutional, the Supreme Court has failed to defend the people’s basic rights and freedoms enshrined in the 1987 Freedom Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other international treaties and covenants where the Philippines is a signatory.”

“Despite some recent positive decisions by the Supreme Court on police body cameras and on malicious issuing of search warrants, the Court has bowed to the demands of the Executive for these extraordinary powers,” said Murphy.

The Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of the Anti-Terror Act of 2020 also gave a green light to the National Task Force to End Local Communists Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to continue its wrath against Filipinos who struggle for national democracy to be free from bureaucrat capitalism and the claws of imperialism. This Executive task force has driven an explosion of red-tagging which has led to the extrajudicial killings of 33 individuals since the signing of Executive Order No. 70 which created the NTF-ELCAC in December 2018.

“This Court ruling on the Anti-Terror Act of 2020 sends danger signals to candidates for the 2022 Philippine elections and their supporters who are critical of the present administration. This law may be a potential weapon by the incumbent to terrorize its rivals and more so the electorate,” said Murphy.

“To genuinely address the root causes of dissent, government should put priority on the resumption of the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines at the national level,” said Murphy. “The people’s safety and security should be prioritized and affirming this mis-named Anti-Terrorism Act does just the opposite.”

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

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines is a global network of organizations, concerned about the human rights situation in the Philippines and committed to campaign for just and lasting peace in the country. During 2021 ICHRP sponsored three major reports on human rights violations in the Philippines carried out by an Independent International Commission of Investigation, INVESTIGATE PH.

ICHRP Statement for International Human Rights Day 2021

Under President Duterte, the Philippines has become a killing ground for alleged drug suspects, political dissidents, community organizers, indigenous people and human rights advocates. The Duterte Regime has institutionalized the killing of dissenters, placing human rights defenders and government critics and all those working to improve the lives of ordinary Filipinos in grave danger. As we mark International Human Rights Day, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) denounces the ongoing human rights tragedy that has unfolded in the Philippines. The last year has seen widespread human rights violations perpetrated by security forces under Duterte’s “shoot-to-kill” and arbitrary arrest policies.

Philippine sources (Karapatan) have reported over 23,000 killed in the War on Drugs, over one thousand civilians killed in the War on the Morro People, and a sharp rise in political killings. As of August 2021, there have been 421 extrajudicial killings; 223 victims of torture; 572,752 victims of threat, harassment, and intimidation; 384,382 who have suffered due to indiscriminate firing and aerial bombing; and 469,025 internally displaced who were subject to forced evacuation.

The past year witnessed the horrific Tumandok Massacre on December 30, 2020, when 9 Indigenous Tumandok leaders were seized, tortured, and killed by the police in Panay. Another mass killing was the Bloody Sunday massacre on March 7, 2021, when the police and military killed nine labour, urban poor, fisherfolk, Indigenous leaders, and human rights defenders in coordinated raids. There were also a massacre of Indigenous Lumad in Mindanao in an incident in Surigao del Sur. On June 15, 2021 three Lumad-Manobo — 12-year-old Angel Rivas, Lenie Rivas, and Willy Rodriguez — were killed by troops from the Philippine Army’s 3rd Special Forces Battalion in Lianga. The incident is the 25th massacre documented by Karapatan under the Duterte administration.

The regime has also been responsible for the killings of seven NDFP peace consultants since peace talks were officially cancelled in November 2017.

In December 2020, retired NDF Peace Consultant Antonio Cabanatan, 74, and wife Florenda Yap, were abducted, secretly detained and ultimately murdered by the AFP. Their bodies were found on December 26, 2020, in a military safehouse in Oton, Iloilo, killed by strangulation. On May 30, 2021, former Roman Catholic priest and former NDFP peace consultant Rustico Luna Tan, 80 years old, was killed as he slept on his hammock, shot by unidentified assailants. The same day Reynaldo Bocala, 74 years of age, a peace consultant in Iloilo City, was killed by members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group at Providence Subdivision in Barangay Balabag in the town of Pavia. The aged Tan and Bocala were “summarily executed” following a directive from Duterte “to take no prisoners” in quashing communists in the Philippines.

The past year has seen a meticulous documentation of the crimes of the Duterte regime. The bloody “War on Drugs” conducted by the Police resulting in the extrajudicial killings of tens of thousands of victims has been further exposed. Investigate PH highlighted how victims had been killed while their hands were bound, while they held up hand to block the bullets fired by police and frequently murdered while they slept in bed. The evidence has sparked investigation for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court and produced damning reports from Michelle Bachelet at the UN Human Rights Council.

Investigate PH also documented testimony concerning Duterte’s crimes committed in the war on the Moro People. Military operations in Mindanao have not distinguished between civilians and combatants. Mortar fire, artillery fire and aerial bombing are by their very nature indiscriminate forms of warfare, particularly when they are used in areas densely populated by civilians. These are the primary weapons that were used in Marawi City in 2017 and continue to be the weapons of choice in the State’s warfare in other Moro communities, with U.S. military support. Such actions are in breach of International Humanitarian Law. U.S. and other foreign governments who supply weapons, intelligence and training are also in breach of International Humanitarian Law.

In the destruction of Marawi City over one thousand civilians were killed, and hundreds of thousands were forced from their homes, with more than 100,000 remaining displaced. The War on the Moro People enables land seizures from the residents who remain displaced in camps and in relatives’ homes, and denies the Moro people’s right to self-determination.

Investigate PH also documented an ongoing and growing war on dissent. The armed forces have become more emboldened in killing dissenters. Police and soldiers are now executing political dissenters in a manner similar to extrajudicial killings in anti-drug operations. Duterte’s NTF-ELCAC, the July 2020 Anti-Terrorism Act, and increasingly the justice system have not only facilitated these killings, but are institutionalizing repression that broadly harms civil society, from alleged communists to churches to long-standing democratic institutions.

Domestic remedies have failed, elements of the judiciary are complicit in the War on Dissent, using the bench to support military and police attacks on dissenters by providing broad powers though warrants of search and arrest that frequently end in the untimely deaths of the accused. The courts are just one element in the entire machinery of the state which has been weaponized in the fascist whole-of-nation approach to target regime dissidents.

Those who oppose the Duterte regime are tagged as terrorists as growing military control over the machinery of state has become a reality. The majority of senior cabinet positions is now occupied by ex-military and police, giving the Duterte Regime increasingly the appearance of a military dictatorship.

Looking ahead there appears to be little respite for the Filipino people as the choices in the 2022 elections are mainly a collection of Duterte sycophants, family members, or the second coming of Marcos. Whatever the outcome of the electoral process the military will continue to cast a deadly shadow over democracy.

In this context we urge the international community and international institutions to stand with the victims and those who struggle for democracy and human rights. We urge the International Criminal Court to pursue its case against the Philippines and Duterte, to follow the evidence and give voice to the victims. We urge the UNHRC to conduct its own independent investigation of the Philippines. We call on the International Labour Organization to escalate its High-Level Tripartite Mission to the Philippines. We call on democratic governments to pursue justice and give no sanctuary to the perpetrators of human rights violations and crimes against humanity by using Magnitsky sanctions against Duterte and his criminal cabal.

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