The Philippine UPR Watch said Ambassador Evan Garcia contradicted himself when he said the Philippines has an “effective and responsive justice system” while admitting to only five recent convictions of low level police officers involved in the thousands of deaths connected with the drug-related killings in the country.
“These tactical offensives prove that the claims by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, PNP and CAFGU of their strategic victory against the revolutionary movement are false,” NPA-Jose Rapsing Command spokesperson Luz del Mar said.
National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) program secretary for Faith, Witness and Service Mervin Sol Toquero reported before the international body that there had been 223 drug-related killings since July 2022, the start of the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration.
“Sugar farm workers who cut and load sugarcane from the fields to the milling facilities have been jobless since December. The RHI Agri-Business Development Corporation (RADC) also entered into crop loan and contract growing agreements with various sugar planters who are not yet paid due to the mill closure,” Lozande said.
“The drug war and its consequences are not mere acts of one or two police personnel – there are government policies behind it and there are those who ordered, incited and encouraged these killings and human rights violations. For the thousands of victims in Duterte’s drug war, this recent conviction remains a drop in the bucket,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) based in Geneva, Switzerland in a decision said the country’s failure to fight for justice for the victims had essentially resulted in ongoing discrimination against them that continues to this day, nearly seven decades since the war ended in 1945.
Before the White House, the protesters demanded the end of US intervention in countries abroad such as the Philippines, accusing its government of funding militarism abroad instead of social services such as education.
“While we have yet to achieve our main objective of having the OFG (Omnibus Franchising Guidelines) junked, Malacanang’s promise to review the jeepney phaseout program is an initial victory. We also forced the Palace to finally reply to our demands,” the No to PUV Phaseout Coalition said in a statement.
Despite threats of punishment by the government, the nationwide protest action against the phaseout of the iconic jeepney failed to deter drivers and small operators who also trooped to Mendiola in Manila to protest the government’s controversial modernization program of public utility vehicles.
“The Marcos Jr. government should begin earnestly committing to full justice and complete accountability that would make the country respected in the eyes of the world. A State that runs away from justice and accountability is a pariah, deserving of being called out by the rest of the civilized, decent world,” the Philippine UPR Watch said.
