STOP the Bombings and END U.S. Military Assistance to the Philippines
The War Resisters League (WRL) and New York Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (NYCHRP) urge an end to the indiscriminate bombings of Filipino villagers by the Philippine government and an end to U.S. security assistance to the Philippine government.
Even as the Philippine government has re-engaged in peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), the U.S.-backed Philippine army has continued its policy of indiscriminate bombing in the countryside. Rather than provide services, just wages, and real safety, the government of Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos, Jr. displaces and murders innocent families, peasant leaders, environmental activists, and indigenous land defenders.
SCALE OF DISPLACEMENT
The violence waged against rural communities is not new. For decades, Philippine presidents have engaged in campaigns to root out any people-powered movements. Former president Rodrigo Duterte terror-tagged and red-tagged activists, leading to countless violations of international humanitarian law. Current president Bongbong Marcos Jr. has promised improvements in the quality of life for poor and working-class Filipinos, but he has only escalated the egregious violations of law seen under his predecessor.
Since Marcos Jr. took office, nearly 25,000 people have been displaced, largely due to aerial bombing campaigns that he claims are to root out armed resistance in the countryside by the NPA. However, these bombings never show restraint — families and rural communities always bear the burden. February 22nd bombings by the Philippine Army in the Negros region have forcibly displaced over 300 families from the area. On March 2, the Army carried out attacks on the border of provinces Camarines Sur and Quezon in Southern Luzon. A family of coconut farm workers were attacked, despite waving burning coconut shells to signal that they were civilians.
Despite the purported goal to root out insurgents, even during peace talks, there is a secondary objective. When communities are displaced from their land, space opens up for agribusiness, mining, and other industries to move in unopposed. Indigenous Lumad communities and activists have regularly been subject to violence by the military, and this grants an opening to foreign mining companies to grab land.
MONEY FOR WAR WORLDWIDE
Worldwide, we see how access to a dignified life remains elusive for peasants, workers, and indigenous peoples. Armed conflict is used as a raison d’etre to bomb and displace whomever is necessary— we see this most starkly in Gaza, where at least 32,333 people have been killed, thousands more injured, and real estate speculators circle Gaza’s Mediterranean waters like sharks. In Sudan, Myanmar, Congo and elsewhere, people live in squalor and degradation, yet there is plenty of money for killing.
These patterns are not incidental. The Philippine government is seeking and making military deals worldwide, including with the U.S., Israel, France, Sweden, Spain, India, and South Korea. It is already the largest recipient of U.S. foreign military aid in the region. Many of the weapons killing and displacing Filipinos are made in the U.S. and in Israel, including long-range maritime aircraft to be supplied by Elbit Systems.
Secretary of State Blinken recently visited the Philippines to offer increased military assistance. A week earlier, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced U.S. companies were readying $1 billion in investments. And more is in the pipeline. If the tap were to turn off, the weapons would not flow into the hands of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the prospects for peace would improve.
CALL TO ACTION
We call on all peace-loving people to expose and oppose the indiscriminate bombings against Filipinos. Given the extensive U.S. backing of the Philippines, we find ourselves complicit in the constant violations of international humanitarian law. Over ⅔ of current armed conflicts worldwide involve belligerents armed by the U.S. weapons industry. We must act to hold our government accountable for the carnage in the Philippines.
Take Action in Solidarity:
- Please share this statement with your friends, families, and communities to spread awareness of our complicity in the plight of the Filipino people and our duty to take action.
- Save the date May 17-19 for the International People’s Tribunal in Brussels, to investigate and address the alleged war crimes committed by the Marcos and Duterte administrations. Attend in person or plan teach-ins about the root causes of armed conflict.
- Help us lobby legislators to support the Philippine Human Rights Act (PHRA) H.R. 1433, a legislative effort to withhold U.S. military aid to the Philippines.
- Hold actions in front of legislators and offices who are resistant to the PHRA. Be creative in exposing their negligence to respect human rights, including organizing rallies, vigils, and bird-dogging.
- Consider resisting federal taxes that go to war and militarism. See guidance by the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee. Distribute WRL’s “Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes FY2025” flyer.
- If your organization is interested, reach out to us in WRL and NYCHRP to take action. Contact WRL at wrl [at] warresisters.org or DM @nychrp on IG.
