Human and women’s rights groups decried the “hypocrisy” of the Marcos Jr. administration in its statements on hosting the International Conference on Women, Peace and Security (ICWPWS) that opens today, October 28, 2024. The groups said that the Marcos Jr. government remains “the number 1 harbinger of violence and unpeace on Filipino women.”
Tanggol Bayi, an association of women human rights defenders in the Philippines, said that “the Marcos Jr. administration’s denials that deep-seated poverty is driven by neoliberal policies, corruption and feudal exploitation which lie at the roots of State violence and armed conflicts in the country is in full view in this international conference.”
“As women whose families and communities are reeling from the effects of the strong typhoons and the destructive projects that amplify the impacts of these calamities, we witness a PR extravaganza by Marcos Jr. that deodorizes the image of his government before the international community, while whitewashing the role and accountability of State actors in the immense harm and violence suffered by Filipino women,” said Tanggol Bayi convenor Atty. Maria Sol Taule.
Tanggol Bayi stated that “the Philippine government’s national action plans (NAPs) on women, peace and security, touted as reflections of its commitment to the United Nations’ Women, Peace and Security agenda, have failed to address the longstanding problems that have kept the majority of Filipino women poor and thus vulnerable to State-sponsored violence.”
Such NAPs, Taule said, have only offered superficial solutions including the tokenistic participation of women in supposed peacebuilding initiatives, while ordinary women and women activists bear the brunt of State-sponsored violence and terrorism.
She cited data from KARAPATAN that 21 women have been killed in the Marcos administration’s counterinsurgency war including women peace consultants such as Wilma Tiamzon and Concha Araneta-Bocala; 9-year old girl-child Kyllene Casao who was killed by soldiers and paramilitaries of the 59th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in Batangas; and peasant activist Emelda Fausto, who was massacred together with her husband and two young children in Negros.
According to KARAPATAN documentation, there are currently 147 women political prisoners who face trumped-up criminal charges and inhumane prison conditions, as they are persecuted because of their active roles in defending and protecting women’s and human rights.
KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay said “the Philippine government’s increased prioritization of public fund allocations for its counterinsurgency war, including intelligence and confidential funds as well as funds for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, over funds for basic social services is a stark indication of its lack of intent to heed calls for governments to lessen military spending and undertake disarmament processes.”
“It only applies its disarmament-demobilization-reintegration (DDR) policy towards national liberation movements through fake or forced surrenders or through talk of bogus final peace agreements and towards the greater population through incessant military operations, bombings, forcible evacuations and suppression of political dissent. Marcos remains uninterested in upholding and adhering to previously signed agreements with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines such as the agreement on the respect for human rights and international humanitarian law, signalling his lack of sincerity to forge just and lasting peace in the country,” Palabay added.
Tanggol Bayi and KARAPATAN called on the international community to help amplify the dire situation of Filipino women, to press for the resumption of the peacetalks of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines with the NDFP and to continue solidarity efforts for just peace in the Philippines.