Category: Dossier
Julie Smit - 1. According to the Philippine Human Rights Group Karapatan (1), the human rights situation in the Philippines has worsened since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in 2022 and rural communities, particularly Indigenous Peoples, are increasingly being subjected to militarisation, including indiscriminate aerial bombing. Could you explain what is behind this increasing militarisation?
Beverly L. Longid: Indeed, human rights violations have significantly increased since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office. He has upheld many of the repressive policies of his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, including the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 and the infamous counterinsurgency program, the National Taskforce to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), particularly in the context of the ongoing armed conflict with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). Under Marcos Jr.’s administration, Indigenous Peoples, journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders, and environmental activists continue to face severe repression. In 2023 alone, there were 11 cases of enforced disappearances, 60 extrajudicial killings, and approximately 10 incidents of indiscriminate aerial bombings in rural communities. These bombings displaced around 20,000 individuals, many of whom were forced to abandon their farms. Notably, seven of these bombings occurred in the ancestral lands of Indigenous Peoples, areas rich in natural resources.
The increasing militarization serves two main objectives: suppressing insurgency and defending destructive ‘development’ projects like large-scale mining, mega-dams, and logging. Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected because many of these projects are located on their ancestral lands. When these communities resist, defending their land and way of life, they are often labeled as « terrorists » or « communist sympathizers » by the military, justifying violent attacks. A particularly harrowing incident occurred in 2020, when nine members of the Tumandok People, who had been opposing the Jalaur dam project that threatened to displace over 17,000 people and cause massive flooding, were brutally murdered in a joint police and military operation on Panay Island.
The militarization of Indigenous territories is not only about counterinsurgency but also about safeguarding corporate interests, as energy and mining companies seek access to the rich natural resources on Indigenous lands. Indigenous Peoples who resist are criminalized, and their ancestral territories are militarized in the name of « national development.
