KARAPATAN condemned the numerous forms and incidents of harassment by soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines against the delegates of the ongoing international solidarity mission on climate justice and militarism in various communities in Rizal, Mindoro, Negros Occidental and Leyte.
“Through these forms of harassment, the delegates from 15 countries are able to confirm the climate of impunity that persists in far-flung villages of peasants and indigenous people, who are bearing the brunt of fascist terror of the AFP and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict,” said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay.
The ISM is organized by the international organizations such as the Peoples Rising for Climate Justice, International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders, Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation, Oilwatch South East Asia, People’s Coalition for Food Sovereignty, Asia Pacific Research Network, Asian Peasant Coalition, Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), and Ibon International. KARAPATAN is among the Philippine partners in the ISM and the conference after the mission.
Among the reported forms and incidents of harassment are as follows:
- Surveillance of ISM delegates in Manila and Leyte by AFP and Philippine National Police intelligence agents;
- Harassment by barangay officials in Mindoro who demanded permits for the mission and list of names of delegates and threatened to declare participants persona non grata if the mission fail to comply;
- Continuing surveillance of ISM delegates in Leyte, Negros, Rizal and Mindoro by soldiers in civilian clothes;
- Harassment by members of the 80th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army and barangay officials in Rizal who demanded names and identification documents of ISM delegates;
- Drone surveillance on ISM delegates in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro; and
- Harassment by personnel from the Land Transportation Office in Mindoro, who demanded identification documents of ISM delegates when they accompanied Iraya indigenous people to their court hearing.
“We came here on the 12th of October, in the morning, in Sitio Nayon, Brgy. Sta. Inez, Tanay, Rizal, to extend our solidarity to the people here, and since this morning, we have been followed, we’ve been questioned, we’ve been photographed, we’ve been followed around by the elements of the 80th Battalion of the Philippine Army, and this should not be done. We are here on a solidarity mission, we’re here as part of a learning exchange, and there is absolutely no need for the Philippine Army to be following us. Why are they here? What and who are they protecting? Why are they photographing us without our consent?,” Sharanya Nayak of the Indigenous People’s Land, Life and Knowledge Collective in India said.
“”In our country, in India, we have the same experience, that when the State is afraid of the people, they put the police force in front of us. And that is what the Marcos Jr. government is doing, it is putting the Philippine Army before the Filipino people,” Nayak added.
Palabay said that the incidents of harassment against the ISM delegates show multiple violations on data privacy rights and their freedom of movement, as well as their right to investigate reports on violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and impact of destructive businesses and government policies on the environment and communities, and to extend international solidarity to vulnerable communities.
“As signatory to the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the Philippine government has the responsibility to recognize and respect these rights. They stop the harassment and pull out the military forces in these communities,” she said.
*Pictures and videos on the incidents are available at the Facebook page of the Peoples Rising for Climate Justice: https://www.facebook.com/peoplesrisingcj