The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) denounces the Marcos Jr government for the various cases of harassment experienced by a recently-concluded international mission composed of social movement activists. It said these cases confirm the human rights violations suffered by rural communities in the country.

The international mission, which was conducted from October 10 to 15 in the provinces of Rizal and Mindoro in Southern Tagalog region and in the regions of Negros and Eastern Visayas, sought to express solidarity with rural communities in the country that are facing climate change, destructive so-called development projects, militarization and human rights violations.

For decades, activists and people’s organizations in the Philippines have sought international solidarity in the face of threats of displacement and environmental destruction and of state repression. Former president Rodrigo Duterte’s detention in the International Criminal Court is just the most recent proof of this.

Despite its pretensions to upholding human rights and democracy, the government of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has inadvertently confirmed to the international mission and the international community the continuing prevalence of rights violations and lack of democracy in the country. It has given international activists a taste of what farmers and indigenous peoples experience especially in the absence of international vigilance.

During the six-day international mission, the police and the military tailed and surveilled the delegates; made their presence felt in the mission areas; imposed arbitrary, impossible and unacceptable requirements to the mission activities; and conducted missions and activities in the rural areas.

The local and international activists wanted to show their solidarity with rural communities that are resisting notorious development aggression projects that are destructive of their rights and the environment – the Kaliwa-Kanan-Laiban Dam in Tanay, Rizal; oil palm plantations in Candoni, Negros Occidental; and a real estate project in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro, which had displaced the Mangyan-Iraya indigenous peoples.

The international solidarity mission was organized by progressive groups Peoples Rising for Climate Justice (PRCJ), Kalikasan, Center for Environmental Concerns, Asia-Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Katribu, Promotion of Church People’s Response, Karapatan, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP), among others.