Statement on the Militarist Approach of the Duterte Government to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines calls on the global community to provide the Filipino people with urgent health support as part of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We need to press the Duterte government to end its repression of civil society to enable the Filipino people to maximise their capacity to deal with the crisis. 

The virus has now triggered a global recession and working people everywhere face loss of income. This economic impact will be even more destructive in the Philippines, which exports labour all over the world and relies heavily on remittances to keep afloat. Filipino migrant workers all around the world will be dislocated and require assistance from the governments of host countries as well as from Manila. 

While no nation was prepared, the Philippines was particularly poorly equipped, its health system greatly depleted, and its political leaders notoriously callous. While Filipinos have been calling for free mass testing, the already limited supply of COVID-19 test kits and the high cost of tests for individuals have been aggravated by acts of government officials, politicians, and VIPs demanding priority^[1]. In contrast, front liners, persons-under-investigation (PUIs), persons-under-monitoring (PUMs), and all other vulnerable sectors are denied testing. Worse, people are dying without even being tested^[2]. 

The police and military who have been deployed to enforce social distancing are not trained for this task, and the weaponry now deployed only adds to the alarm among the people about what could happen to them. Abuses of human rights perpetrated by authorities have been growing with cases such as illegally detaining homeless people^[3], putting curfew violators in cages^[4] and using torture methods to punish them, and finally arresting citizens over “provoking” posts in social media^[5]. 

Alarmingly, President Rodrigo Duterte was able to obtain additional “emergency powers” to supposedly address the pandemic. Through a new law, the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act”, it is easier for Duterte to exercise absolute power despite his notoriety for disregard for human life and the rights of the poor. Now, he has appointed military men to lead and implement his National Action Plan to contain COVID-19^[6]. These non-expert, non-doctors, non-scientists ex-generals have been systematically red-tagging and harassing citizens and ICHRP partner organisations who are advancing people’s rights.

The widespread use of surveillance, arrests on trumped-up charges, and extrajudicial execution by the government against leaders and members of people’s organisations must end. The international community has a vital role to play in pressing the Duterte government to end the attacks, end the killings and to respect basic rights to life and livelihood, and to democratic standards, if this COVID-19 pandemic is to be overcome. 

We reiterate that inside the country, community-based organisations and trade unions must be freed from repression to enable them to rapidly identify needs and to advocate to employers and government for emergency support. 

CURE COVID

Amid the government’s militarist approach and criminal negligence, Filipinos have taken the situation into their own hands. Relief operations, information drives, and community efforts to produce personal protective equipment for front liners have been ongoing. They call it the Citizens’ Urgent Response to End COVID-19 (CURE COVID) and it is an initiative of various communities and sectors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on health and livelihoods. CURE COVID calls for basic social services for everyone, and nobody should be left unprotected from the disease and steps to arrest its spread. 

ICHRP commends these and similar initiatives of Filipinos and of mass organizations’ assertion of pro-people responses given that their health and lives are at stake

TO THE DUTERTE GOVERNMENT 

ICHRP recognises that this crisis will increasingly take a heavy toll on the Filipino people especially on the poor of the land. We support the efforts of empowered people’s movement in the Philippines’ to make the Duterte government accountable for:

• every poor person’s life lost due to denial of health care services and protection from Covid-19;
• every front-liner who died and are at risk due to the massive shortage of adequate facilities and equipment 
• a militarist approach to the Covid-19 crisis that curtails the fundamental right of people to express criticism and dissent, the same approach that red-tags, arrests on trumped-up charges and thereby derails people from meaningfully contributing to the efforts to deal with the crisis. 

Again, we are calling for an end to the Philippine government’s repression of civil society to enable the Filipino people to maximise their capacity to deal with the crisis. 

#StopTheAttacks
#BasicSocialServicesforthePoor
#MassTestingNowPH

SOLIDARITY TO CURE COVID: A CALL FOR DONATIONS 

Sectors in the Philippines who live below the poverty line or who are jobless, landless, homeless and who are most vulnerable to Covid-19 urgently need support. We appeal to all for donations. 

You may send them through ICHRP’s PayPal account managed by the ICHRP secretariat based in Manila, link to which is: https://www.paypal.me/ichrpmanila 

In the immediate, your donations will be utilized to provide meals, relief packs and hygiene kits to Filipino beneficiaries. 

^[1] Gov’t officials crowd out patients for COVID-19 testing

^[2]PUI in Marawi dies while awaiting COVID-19 test result

^[3]Cops arrest homeless Lola who shouted at tanods warning about curfew

Cops arrest homeless Lola who shouted at tanods warning about curfew 

^[5]Teacher, son arrested without warrant in GenSan over Facebook post.  

 ^[6]Former military men to carry out action plan vs Covid-19

Portland, OR — In the evening of January 8th, the Portland Human Rights commission voted to submit a historic resolution to the Portland City Council to suspend U.S. military Aid to the Philippines. Since 2016, the U.S. has provided the Philippines with over 550 million dollars in military aid, despite Philippine President Duterte’s infamous and widespread human rights violations that have resulted in over 30,000 killings in the country.  

Dozens of Filipino human rights activists and community members joined the Portland Human Rights Commission meeting to support the resolution and testify about the effects of Duterte’s “war on drugs” and crackdown on human rights defenders.

“Youth should not have to grow up looking down the barrel of a gun” said Veronica Porter from GABRIELA Portland and the Malaya Movement, describing the situation of many youth growing up in the Philippines who are facing indiscriminate harassment from state forces. Porter recently returned from a delegation to Panay island in the Visayas, Philippines. 

Dr. Crystallee Crain, Portland Human Rights Commissioner and author of the resolution, stated, “I believe that it’s important to use our voices for change and to impress upon the leaders of the city, state, and country that we do not support these violations of human rights.”

Clearly moved by the constituent testimonies, the Commission voted 6-1-1 to push for the resolution at the level of Portland City Council. The Commission also voted to write a public statement of support. The current draft of the resolution will be submitted for a vote at Portland City Council on a later date yet to be determined. 

“While this is a big step in the right direction, I encourage leaders in Congress to divest unnecessary military aid that are being unjustly utilized. We should not allow our elected officials to squander tax dollars to dictatorships that aim to bolster their own power. We need massive review and reform of appropriations on the federal level. Our local work is meant to catalyze the movement in that direction,” continued Dr. Crain. 

Sam Miller, Regional Coordinator for the Portland Chapter of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, added, “In a progressive city like Portland, this is an important move forward in living those progressive values on an international level. I applaud the members of the Human Rights Commission for recognizing the interconnectedness of their advocacy for human rights in Portland and the global struggle for freedom, democracy and justice.”

The Portland resolution is a part of growing diplomatic pressure against Duterte and a contribution to the U.S.-wide campaign to suspend military aid to the Philippines. In 2019, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution calling for an investigation of the human rights situation in the Philippines, and in September, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a similar resolution, which calls for the suspension of military aid to the Philippines. On the same day of the Portland Human Rights Commission vote, the U.S. Senate passed Resolution S142, which condemns human rights violations in the Philippines and the detention of Senator Leila De Lima and harassment of journalist and Time Magazine Person of the year Maria Ressa. 

Acquittal of accused cops raises concern

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines welcomes the recent verdict to convict 28 persons including three Ampatuan siblings principally charged for the death of 57 individuals, 32 of whom were journalists. The 28 will be facing 40 years of imprisonment while fifteen others were convicted with lesser jail time.

The decision was served on December 19, 2019 by Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of Quezon City Regional Trial Court, in the country’s capital, more than 10 years after the worst media killing and worst election-related killing in Philippine history.

However, current local Mayor Sajid Ampatuan, one of the members of the notorious clan, and 52 other accused, 30 of whom are cops, were acquitted. ICHRP is worried at the message this sends out at time of continuing culture of impunity. “By acquitting all the policemen involved in the killings, it has held the government unaccountable for the massacre,” says ICHRP.

Nevertheless, we welcome this long overdue verdict and bittersweet victory for the families and the Filipino people. If not for the vigilance of journalists, surviving families, and human rights advocates, justice would still be elusive.

Peter Murphy, Chairperson ICHRP

It is well known that the Ampatuans are political allies with Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who was Philippine president when the mass killing happened. Arroyo was not legally held accountable as commander-in-chief at that time and she is now restored into power through the high position of House Speaker in the Congress. She also enjoys being part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s close allies.

ICHRP also stressed their concern with how the Ampatuans are able to stall the case for 10 years and were even granted privileges in jail — “This only proves that human rights violators and murderers in the Philippines will do everything in their power to bend the law in their favor. Therefore, we are one with the call of human rights organizations and individuals to be vigilant and to guard this historic victory from being overturned.”

“The battle for justice may be long but Filipinos have proven, time and again, their unwavering dedication to carrying on the fight. Again, we salute the families, the journalists, human rights workers, lawyers and supporters who, for 10 years, never gave up. We will continue to support the search for justice for all victims of human rights violations in previous regimes and exacting accountability for the crimes of the fascist Duterte government,” Murphy concludes. #