On the commemoration of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Day, civil society calls on Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to institutionalize peace and democracy based on justice, and an end to the “normalization” of war and development aggression.
Against the backdrop of continuing nationwide military operations that have disrupted—and continue to disrupt—the lives, livelihoods and violate fundamental human rights of Filipinos, the Marcos administration is expected to commemorate the 77th anniversary of IHL on August 12, 2026. The Department of National Defense (DND), which oversees the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), has designated the entire month of August for this observance.
Yet this official commemoration stands in grim contrast to persistent allegations of serious IHL and human rights violations (HRVs) committed by state security forces. Together with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which operates directly under the Office of President, the DND has repeatedly been identified by human rights organizations as among the principal institutions responsible for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.
We must not forget that on the very first day of 2026, the AFP launched aerial bombings and strafing operations in Occidental Mindoro, purportedly targeting the New People’s Army (NPA), despite the latter’s declaration of a unilateral ceasefire. The operations resulted in the deaths of three Mangyan-Iraya indigenous youth and youth researcher Jerlyn Rose Doydora, the illegal detention of Filipino-American Chantal Anicoche, and the forced displacement and psychological trauma experienced by affected communities.
Four months later, military operations in Toboso, Negros Occidental culminated in what has become known as the Toboso 19 Massacre. The AFP rejected accusations of IHL violations despite reports of the forcible displacement of farming communities, the killing of civilians, and the deaths of hors de combat members of the NPA. To this day, the military has yet to return the remains of peasant rights researcher Errol Wendel Chen to his family.
Despite widespread calls for independent investigations into these incidents, similar allegations emerged once again in Abra, where human rights organizations in the Cordillera Administrative Region documented another series of military operations beginning in July 2026. These operations reportedly resulted in the deaths of alleged NPA members, with the remains of two out of the three bodies released to their families days after repeated demands from relatives and human rights advocates.
Karapatan and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) likewise accused government forces of illegally arresting Filipino-American organizer Christina Pasion and Mangyan-Buhid community organizer Binay Serrano on July 30, 2026, in Laguna province. According to these organizations, authorities withheld information regarding Serrano’s whereabouts for several days before she was located by a human rights group and is being detained in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.
These incidents are not isolated. Across the country, military operations purportedly targeting the NPA continue in areas where large-scale mining projects, mineral exploration by foreign corporations, extensive land conversion, coastal reclamation, road construction, and other infrastructure projects face organized resistance from local communities. Human rights and environmental defenders have consistently argued that the government’s counter-insurgency campaign, implemented through the National Action Plan for Unity, Peace and Development (NAP-UPD), has been used to suppress legitimate people’s resistance and protect the interests of powerful domestic and foreign business conglomerates.
Karapatan’s documentation of human rights violations under the Marcos administration reflects what it describes as a continuing culture of impunity. As of July 2026, there have been 147 cases of extrajudicial killings, 16 enforced disappearances, 892 cases of illegal or arbitrary arrest and 560 political prisoners.
Karapatan further documented at least 70,028 victims of indiscriminate firing, 59,284 victims of aerial bombings, 49,459 cases of forced evacuation, and numerous cases of coerced or forced surrender that remain undocumented. The administration has also reportedly continued the deadly anti-illegal drugs campaign initiated under former President Rodrigo Duterte. About 1,289 drug-related deaths under Pres. Marcos, Jr.’s watch were documented.
Abolish the NTF-ELCAC
Despite sustained criticism—including recommendations from United Nations experts calling for the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC—the government’s counter-insurgency framework under the NAP-UPD continues to be aggressively implemented. Human rights organizations report persistent harassment, intimidation, and coercion against fishers, indigenous peoples, farmers, activists, and community leaders. Karapatan documented 580 cases of fake or forced surrenders and 11,302,433 individual victims of harassment, threats and intimidation.
Human rights defenders fear human rights violations will continue with impunity during the remainder of Pres. Marcos Jr.’s term. The country’s worsening socio-economic and political conditions have compelled many Filipinos, especially the marginalized and poorest sectors, to oppose development projects that they believe undermine, rather than advance, their rights, welfare, and long-term well-being.
Rather than addressing the structural roots of poverty, inequality, and underdevelopment, successive administrations have advanced policies and projects that primarily benefit political elites and large domestic and foreign corporations. Community opposition has frequently been met not through meaningful democratic engagement but through intensified military operations and counter-insurgency measures.
At the same time, instead of strengthening democratic institutions and expanding civic space through rights-based legislation, the Marcos administration has promoted measures that will most likely further institutionalize repression. Despite persistent calls to repeal the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act (TFPSA), the administration has endorsed additional bills—including the Digital Media and Anti-False News Bill, the Foreign Influence and Interference Bill, the Terror Grooming Prevention Bill, and their corresponding counterpart bills—all justified under the broad framework of “national security.”
Civil society organizations, and human rights defenders have warned that these proposed laws employ broad and ambiguous definitions similar to those found in ATA and the TFPSA. They warn that such measures could once again be weaponized against journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders, environmental advocates, activists, and other critics through politically motivated or trumped-up charges.
Critics argue that this expansive interpretation of “national security” risks criminalizing legitimate dissent and democratic participation, thereby eroding the constitutional freedoms and civic space secured through the 1986 People Power Uprising that ended Marcos Sr.’s kleptocratic and dictatorial regime.
Collectively, these developments paint a deeply troubling picture of a nation experiencing continual political polarization, shrinking democratic space, and escalating armed conflict. They underscore the urgent need to reverse policies that perpetuate violence and repression, and to pursue genuine peace founded on justice, accountability, respect for human rights, and meaningful social reform.
As the nation observes IHL Day on August 12 and World Humanitarian Day on August 19, the Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG) reiterates its call on the Pres. Marcos Jr.’s administration, to faithfully uphold its obligations under the Geneva Conventions and other applicable norms of international humanitarian law. More importantly, the government must move beyond symbolic commemorations and demonstrate, through concrete policies and actions, its commitment to protecting human dignity, safeguarding democratic freedoms, and pursuing a just and lasting peace for all Filipinos.
CPDG, once again, calls on the Philippine government to:
- Legislate the Human Rights Defenders Protection Act, the Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Act, and the Commission on Human Rights Charter as necessary measures to counter attacks against CSOs, HRDs, development workers and humanitarian workers alike.
- Repeal the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (ATA) and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012 (TFPSA), and drop all fabricated and politically motivated charges against activists, human rights defenders, development workers, civil society organizations (CSOs), non-government organizations (NGOs), and other civilians exercising their constitutionally protected rights.
- Stop the enactment of the new terror bills – the Digital Media and Anti-False News Bill, the Foreign Influence and Interference Bill, the Terror Grooming Prevention Bill, and their corresponding counterparts.
- End the militarization of ancestral domains, rural communities, and other civilian areas, ensure the safe, voluntary, and dignified return of internally displaced persons, and uphold the rights of affected communities in accordance with international humanitarian and human rights standards.
- Abolish the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and redirect its public funds toward essential social services, including education, healthcare, housing, sustainable livelihoods, disaster resilience, and programs that genuinely address the roots of poverty and inequality.
- Resume formal national peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), with the objective of addressing the root causes of armed conflict—including landlessness, socioeconomic inequality, political exclusion, human rights violations, poverty, and systemic injustice—and pursuing a just and lasting peace based on social justice, respect for human rights, and genuine democratic reforms.
#AssertPeoplesRights #AssertCivicSpaces
#EndStateImpunity #ReleaseAllPoliticalPrisoners
#UpholdInternationalHumanitarianLaw #NationalPeaceTalksNow