United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Context of Climate Change Dr. Ian Fry affirmed in his press conference that the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) needs to be “disbanded outright” and that the Anti-Terrorism Law should be revoked.
The press conference was the culmination of Dr. Fry’s 10-day mission in the Philippines where he presented his interim report upon visiting and investigating areas with adverse impacts of climate change.
His formal comprehensive report of findings and recommendations will go to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2024.
Reparations to HRVs
“Clearly, there are people who have suffered dramatically as a consequence of the persecution of environmental human rights defenders,” Dr. Fry noted.
The climate expert said his visit to the country may not be long enough but he has heard horrific stories and accounts of residents, human rights organizations, and even environmental defenders who have been victims at the expense of their campaign towards the protection of the environment.
According to him, it has been a recurring story among the civil society organizations, rights groups, and residents he has spoken with in the areas he visited like Tondo, Valenzuela, Iloilo, Tacloban, Baybay and Abuyog also in Leyte where he looked into the situation of residents since the onslaught of typhoon Yolanda or Haiyan.
“It is clear that ELCAC is operating beyond its mandate and is red-tagging people from the community and indigenous peoples. I have heard cases of torture, disappearance, and extra-judicial killings of people and this is totally unacceptable. And it seems as though the government has lost control of some of its military organizations and is moving beyond what is considered reasonable,” said Dr. Fry
NTF-ELCAC was established upon the enactment of Executive Order 70 (EO 70) or a whole-of-nation approach by former president Rodrigo Duterte in a bid to end the communist insurgency through focused military operations (FMO) and retooled community support programs (RCSPO).
But FMO and RCSPOs are only done in the countryside where there are apparent clashes between the military and communist armed-wing New People’s Army (NPA). However, according to human rights groups, such FMO and RCSPO programs are being applied in the urban cities at the helm of NTF-ELCAC by red-tagging individuals and linking them as members of NPA.
Given this, profiling, militarization and various approaches are done by the government alongside the police and military to communities—eventually leading to rampant human rights violations.
KARAPATAN NCR reported cases of profiling, red-tagging, and harassment in Baseco since the 11th and 12th Civil-Military Operations (CMO) Battalion began encamping in various communities in March this year.
Dr. Fry stated that NTF-ECAC is only using its powers to protect the key economic interests of the country and has nothing to do with anti-terrorism or anti-communism.
“I heard where people had their houses raided, families taken out of their houses and then the household head being executed inside the house and then the military accusing these people of having weapons. There is clearly a trumped-up process that is applied in this area,” Dr. Fry added.
The climate expert said that the government should be held accountable and form a “truth and reconciliation process” following the harms that have been caused by NTF-ELCAC and military operations to communities alongside environmental defenders.
“There are still people in jail as a consequence of the actions of ELCAC and there needs to be a clear review and amnesty given to these people as part of this reconciliation process,” he added while emphasizing the need for an independent investigation of the NTF-ELCAC operations.
NTF-ELCAC is proposed to have a P10.34 billion budget proposal for the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP) budget. Dr. Fry said it would be good if these funds should be redirected to address climate change, especially for the reparations of environmental defenders and communities vilified and harassed by the military in their operations.
Treatment of environmental HR defenders in the country
Dr. Fry, sees the Philippines as the 2nd worst in the world as far as the treatment of environmental human rights defenders, saying Brazil is the highest given the number of extrajudicial killings among environmental defenders.
According to rights group KARAPATAN, the Philippines has been one of the world’s deadliest countries and Asia’s worst for environmental defenders in the past 10 years where killings of environmental defenders peaked during the Duterte administration ranging to 205 (or 73%) of the 281 slain victims.
“But the problem persists under the Marcos Jr. regime, as evidenced by the abduction by state forces last September of environmental activists Jhed Tamano and Jonila Castro, who have been campaigning against ecologically destructive reclamation projects along Manila Bay,” the group added.
Dr. Fry recommended that the government needs to create a clean slate around its approach to anti-terrorism and revise the laws to make them appropriate for the circumstances that are occurring now and not to use the laws to harass, vilify, and kill human rights defenders.
His visit to the country spans from November 6 up to 15, the same time that the trumped-up charge of perjury against Tamano and Castro was filed by the 70th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
According to the climate expert, there is a serious problem that would seriously affect the international reputation of the Philippines if killings persist.
“If they don’t initiate a process to resolve that. It would also affect the government’s ability to negotiate good climate change outcomes if they have this reputation for attacking environmental defenders,” Dr. Fry added.
The 2023 United Nations Climate Change conference referred to as COP28 will be held from November 30 to December 12 this year at the Expo City in Dubai.
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