“Ang pinakanais atakehin ng whole-of-nation approach na ito ay mga sibilyan, nakatuon lamang sa pampulitikang panunupil ang Executive Order No. 70 (EO 70) at kinasangkapan pa nga nito ang NTF-ELCAC para supilin at takutin ang mamamayan,” said former political prisoner and Karapatan National Capital Region (NCR) spokesperson Reina Mae Nasino.
[The main target of this whole-of-nation approach is civilians, with Executive Order No. 70 specifically orchestrating political oppression. It even conceived the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to suppress and intimidate the citizens]
Karapatan NCR along with various groups protested in front of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to lambast the rampant human rights violations five years since the implementation of EO 70.
“Ang sinasabi nila, ang tanging layunin ng EO 70 ay wakasan ang armadong tunggalian sa pagitan ng GRP at NPA. Ngunit pilit pinapatahimik ang anumang porma ng paglaban, isang halimbawa ang iligal na pang-aaresto at pagsampa ng gawa-gawang kaso,” said Nasino.
[They say, the sole purpose of EO 70 is to end the armed conflict between the GRP and the NPA. But any form of resistance is forced to be silenced, an example being illegal arrests and the filing of trumped-up charges.]
Nasino was a former political prisoner alongside Alma Moran and Ram Carlo Bautista known as Tondo 3. Her infant, Baby River, succumbed to acute respiratory illness after being separated from her despite her plea to allow her to care and nurse for her child who had low weight and yellow skin discoloration at birth.
In 2018, the former Duterte administration signed EO 70 in a bid to “address the roots of insurgency” through focused military operations (FMO) and retooled community support program (RSCPO) operations across the country. This also paved the establishment of NTF-ELCAC.
Karapatan NCR said E070 effectively ended the peace talks between the former administration and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the government opted to wage an all-out war against the people.
Various groups have long criticized the NTF-ELCAC’s rampant red-tagging of activists, lawyers, lawmakers, health workers, journalists, ordinary people and even celebrities who spoke even once against the former administration’s policies or voice out sentiments akin to the stance of activists on certain issues.
The rights group also noted that the inception of EO 70 led to the formation of the counterpart of the NTF-ELCAC in various regions in the country. In NCR, the Joint Task Force (JTF)-ELCAC was formed in 2018.
Arrests of activists through search warrants followed in 2019 and 2020, including the 2019 arrest of Tondo 3 and the arrest of the Human Rights Day 7 (HRD7) in 2020.
In 2021, police and NTF-ELCAC red-tagging forums in communities and schools in the region and the ‘witch hunting’ and ‘demonizing’ of leaders of activists’ groups since 2021.
Then from 2022 to 2023, military elements were deployed in urban poor communities, profiling leaders of activist groups and labor unions, asking them to give up names of other activists in the community and asking them to report to the village hall to sign agreements of ‘surrendering to the government’ while offering relief goods, jobs and other services.
“Hinding hindi natin malilimutan ang ginawa sa Human Rights Day 7. Sa pitong nahuli na iyon ay nakakulong pa rin ang apat at nakabinbin sa gawa-gawang kaso laban sa kanila. Dagdag pa natin ang kawalang hiyang pandurukot at pamamaslang sa mga aktibista, sa mga organisador sa mga komunidad, probinsya dito sa ating bayan,” Nasino continued.
[We will never forget what they did to the Human Rights Day 7. Of the seven arrested, four are still in jail due to the trumped-up charges against them. Let’s add the shameless abductions and killing of activists, organizers in communities, provinces here in our country.]
Mark Ryan Cruz, Romina Astudillo, Jaymie Gregorio Jr, and Joel Demate of the HRD7 remain in jail. Meanwhile, the Office of the Solicitor General elevated its case against Manila Today editor Lady Ann Salem and Sandigang Manggagawa ng Quezon City (SMQC) Rodrigo Esparago to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeals denied its petition for certiorari, in a bid to reopen the case at the trial court level.
Military deployed in Metro Manila
“Ang urban militarization ay isang de facto martial law sa lungsod ng Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas at Valenzuela (CAMANAVA),” said Letty Castillo of DEFEND CAMANAVA.
[Military in urban areas is a de facto martial law in the cities of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela.]
Castillo who was the third nominee for Gabriela Women’s Partylist and Regional Chairperson for Gabriela Valenzuela endured a series of harassment and threats because of her advocacy work.
“Nagpapatupad ng isang operasyon na tinatarget ang mga terorista at insurgents kuno. Ang mga organisador na nagtatanggol sa karapatan at nagtataguyod sa kagaligan ng mamamayan ay sumasailalim sa profiling at surveillance ng LGU at mismong kapulisan kaya nagiging buhay na target ng human rights violations,” Castillo added.
[Operations targeting alleged terrorists and insurgents are being carried out. Organizers who defend the rights and promote the well-being of the people are subjected to profiling and surveillance by the LGU and the police themselves, thus becoming live targets of human rights violations.]
Attacks on labor activists
Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) NCR secretary-general Edgar Gado panned the Marcos Jr. administration on the rising number of extrajudicial killings and human rights violations against labor activists. He noted that the killings did not abate after the Duterte administration stepped down.
Long-time KMU organizer Jude Fernandez was killed in his house on September 29. He was the 72nd worker who fell victim to extrajudicial killing since 2016 and the fourth after the January 2023 International Labor Organization (ILO) High-Level Tripartite Mission.
KMU has since called on the attention of the United Nations and the ILO to look into the worsening labor and human rights situation in the Philippines.
Gado, speaking in Filipino, said that Marcos Jr. was embarrassed about this human rights record it had to issue Executive order (EO) No. 23 to form an inter-agency committee to reinforce and protect the right to organize of Filipino workers to abide by the ILO Convention No. 87 ratified in December 1953.
Through the convention, the Philippine government committed to upholding workers’ freedom to form associations and right to organize, refraining from hindering these rights and offering remedies in cases of violations by both public and private entities.
Gado averred that had not been the case given that EO 23 included the NTF-ELCAC in the inter-agency committee and that the continued existence of NTF-ELCAC and EO 70 continues to undermine the people’s freedom of association and political beliefs.
