GENEVA — Human rights defenders from the Philippine UPR Watch submitted an urgent letter of allegation to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, denouncing the intensifying weaponization of counterterrorism laws to attack religious groups, development organizations, and human rights defenders in the Philippines. The delegation formally transmitted the complaint to the Special Rapporteur’s mandate at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on June 19, 2025.
The urgent letter builds upon the joint submission filed last year by Philippine UPR Watch members Karapatan Alliance Philippines (Karapatan) and the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), and provides alarming updates on the expanding state repression under the Marcos Jr. administration.
At the center of the complaint is the civil forfeiture case against the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), a Catholic church-based organization with decades of humanitarian work among rural poor, indigenous peoples, and marginalized communities. On May 21, 2025, the Manila Regional Trial Court of Manila ordered the forfeiture of multiple bank accounts of RMP and its RMP-Northern Mindanao Region in favor of the government. The ruling was based on testimonies from self-proclaimed “former rebels,” who alleged that portions of international grants funds intended for development projects were diverted to the CPP-NPA.
The court treated the CPP-NPA as designated terrorist organizations based on foreign designations and executive declarations, even though no judicial proscription or domestic power of designation existed at the time of the alleged incidents. The court also applied a theory of “commingling,” concluding that any alleged diversion of funds tainted the entirety of RMP and RMP-NMR’s accounts, despite the absence of any direct evidence tracing the funds to terrorist acts.
Philippine UPR Watch delegate Bishop Joseph Agpaoa, acting General Secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and vice-chairperson of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), stressed that these attacks endanger church institutions.
“The state is targeting our ministries, freezing church properties, and criminalizing our work with the poor. What it calls counterterrorism is, in truth, dismantling ministries that for generations have served farmers, indigenous peoples, and rural communities abandoned by the state. The criminalization of Christian service to the vulnerable is an assault on the very heart of our mission,” Bishop Agpaoa said.
He added that the UCCP is now itself facing civil forfeiture proceedings after the Anti-Money Laundering Council froze funds and properties belonging to UCCP Haran in Davao City, the Brokenshire Integrated Health Ministries Inc. where UCCP Haran is located, and UCCP Fatima Church in Bohol. As in RMP’s case, the government’s evidence consists of uncorroborated and recycled testimonies of so-called “rebel returnees,” many of whom have appeared in multiple cases with nearly identical narratives.
“The persecution of the RMP sets a dangerous precedent that threatens every church, every religious institution, every humanitarian worker in this country. If courts can declare mission work as terrorism financing, no one in the religious community is safe,” he added.
Similar civil forfeiture proceedings have also been granted in favor of the government and against RMP lay worker Marielle Domequil and journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who were declared in default by the same Manila court and barred from presenting evidence. Both now face terrorism financing charges before the Regional Trial Court of Tacloban City.
The complaint also draws extensively from the Playbook of Repression study jointly produced by NUPL, IBON Foundation, and the Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG), which documents how Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards have been exploited to justify broad asset freezes and prosecutions for terrorism financing based on fabricated evidence.
Even after the Philippines’ removal from the FATF grey list, the repression continues. “The Marcos government claims victory in FATF compliance while intensifying politically motivated financial sanctions and prosecutions against critical and dissenting voices. What it refuses to acknowledge is that the true cost of this so-called compliance is the severe damage inflicted on Philippine civic space,” said Atty. Josalee Deinla, NUPL Secretary General.
The Philippine UPR Watch urged the Special Rapporteur to initiate an urgent inquiry into the systemic abuse of counterterrorism measures in the Philippines, and called on the international community to demand immediate safeguards to protect the fundamental rights of the Filipino people.