“Disyembre 2016 noong sinabi ni Pangulong Duterte na huling Pasko na ‘yun para sa mga adik. Hindi ko inasahang kasama pala ang anak ko sa tinutukoy niya,” recalled Emily Soriano in a press conference in Quezon City on September 17. Emily is the mother of 16-year-old drug war victim Angelito Soriano.

(It was in December 2016 when President Duterte said that that Christmas would be the last for drug addicts. Never would I have thought that my son would be one of those he was referring to.)

Angelito was among seven people killed in a Tokhang police operation in Caloocan City on December 28, 2016. Emily recounted how she had been saving up for a toy gun to give Angelito for Christmas. He had wanted to be a soldier. He had no record of using drugs.

“Napakasakit para sa isang ina na mawalan ng anak, lalo na ‘yung anak ko na punong-puno ng pangarap,” Emily said. 

Emily is one of many complainants who will be giving her testimony against President Rodrigo Duterte at the International People’s Tribunal to be convened on September 18 to 19 in Brussels, Belgium.

Before a panel of jurors coming from different countries and legal backgrounds, human rights victims and basic sectors represented by Filipino mass organizations will put Duterte, in collaboration with the US government represented by Donald Trump, under trial for ‘crimes against the Filipino people’.

These crimes are what the IPT has grouped as violations of: (1) civil and political rights; (2) economic, social, and cultural rights; and (3) national sovereignty, development, and international humanitarian law.

The IPT is a global court convened by the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, International Association of Democratic Lawyers, IBON International, and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines.

Countless crimes

What Duterte described in his third State of the Nation Address as more ‘relentless and chilling’ is seen as state-perpetrated ‘mass murder’ by IPT complainants. The crackdown against illegal narcotics, Oplan Tokhang, has claimed the lives of 23,000 people, mostly coming from underprivileged sectors. Another government oplan, so-called counterinsurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan, also has 160 cases of extrajudicial killing under its name.

Representatives of Moro and indigenous peoples will also file cases for violations committed under martial law in Mindanao. “Ang mga kasong inihapag sa mga korte dito sa Pilipinas ay hindi gumugulong. Imbes na nababawasan, nadadagdagan ang bilang ng mga pinapatay na Moro,” said Suara Bangsamoro chairperson Jerome Aba.

(Cases filed in Philippine courts are stagnating. Instead of a decrease, there is an increase in the number of Moro people being killed.)

Aba cited the massacre of seven Tausug youths on September 14 in Patikul, Sulu, who were mistakenly identified by troops of the Philippine Army Scout Rangers as members of the Abu Sayyaf Group.

Aba himself is also a victim of discrimination on grounds of religion when he was entering the US through the San Francisco International Airport in April.

Under martial rule in the Philippines’ southernmost island, rights group Karapatan has documented 49 cases of extrajudicial killing; 22 cases of torture; 89 cases of illegal arrest and detention; and cases of indiscriminate firing and aerial bombardment, victimizing 336,124 individuals.

The complainants will also file cases of political persecution and repression, as what fell on former justice secretary and current senator Leila de Lima; foreign missionary Sr. Patricia Fox; members of the press and media groups; and the more than 500 political prisoners around the country. Included in the list of political prisoners are Rafael Baylosis, Maoj Maga, and Bob Reyes, all labor activists and trade union leaders.

Representatives from the workers sector will also be present at the IPT to detail the Duterte government’s violations of economic rights, such as the right to just wages and the right to strike. The panel of jurors will hear testimonies from NutriAsia workers, Sumifru banana plantation workers, as well as members of transport group PISTON.

Other violations of economic, social, and cultural rights are the imposition of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law; labor-only contracting; landlessness and harassment of peasants; negligence over the plight of distressed overseas workers; lack of decent mass housing; and misogyny demonstrated by no less than the President himself.

Violations of international humanitarian law and the right to indigenous peoples’ self-determination include the massacre of seven National Democratic Front personnel in August; cases of attacks on schools leading to closure by state forces; and airstrikes in different indigenous communities.

“The continuing impunity of killings, state violence, and other crimes against the Filipino people compel us to file these cases against the regime. The judicial system itself is under attack in the Philippines. Hence, an impartial tribunal recognized internationally can serve as moral suasion to stop the attacks and make the regime accountable for its crimes,”  Teddy Casiño of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said in a statement.

What next?

Should the government represented by Duterte be found guilty or not guilty of the above-stated charges, the IPT will forward the verdict to courts of law, such as the International Criminal Court. While Duterte announced the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC under the Rome Statute, the Court’s rules do not recognize the pull-out of any state until after one year from receiving the notice of withdrawal.

Meanwhile, rights groups in the Philippines are calling on Filipinos to participate in a Martial Law commemoration protest in Rizal (Luneta) Park on September 21.

“Hanggang kailan tayo magtitiis na puro patayan at gutom? Ayaw po naming manahimik, kaya handa na kaming magsalita at magsampa ng kaso,” Emily said.

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Church leaders and church people are good in humanitarian and charity works. For sure, as Typhoon Ompong has destroyed some parts of the country, the churches in those affected areas have been offered as sanctuaries and relief centers. Church people have been good in this area of concern. The people must thank God for His servants.

But church people are not only good in helping people who are victims of natural calamities. In Metro Manila, some church people are busy in hosting the Lumad ‘Bakwit School’ with 100 students, teachers, parents, and Lumad leaders from Southern Mindanao Region. The Lumad ‘Bawit School’ is bringing its concern about the life, education, rights and struggle of the Lumad people in the country’s center of political power.

The Lumad people, aside from wanting to shake up the Duterte government about their plight, want to get the attention of the people of Metro Manila, especially the leaders of churches, schools and universities. They want to share their struggles as victims of martial law in Mindanao. In their communities, their schools were forcibly closed; some of their teachers were harassed and intimidated by state forces (military, police and paramilitary) in the guise of counter-insurgency; and some of their leaders and teachers were slapped with false charges. Some teachers were illegally arrested and detained, while some have been killed by believed-to-be members of the military.

The Lumad ‘Bakwit School’ is a learning system with a campaign to save Lumad schools. The students, teachers, and leaders become the story-tellers about the situation of the Lumad in Mindanao. Aside from holding regular classes, they speak in different fora, dialogues, group discussions, and Holy Masses.

The church people are amazed at this learning system. They do not only regularly open the church and school facilities as classrooms, but they also support their daily needs and provide financial support. Countless church leaders and church people have been constantly involved with the struggle of the Lumad people and national minorities in general.

The Lumad ‘Bakwit School’ was held at the Union Theological Seminary in Cavite last August. In the first week of September, the Redemptorist community received them with gladness. On Wednesdays, representatives of the Lumad were given the opportunity to tell their stories in  Masses offered from morning to evening in Baclaran Church.

From September 11 to 16, the students, teachers, and leaders of the ‘Bakwit School’, aside from holding their regular classes, engaged the students, teachers, and church people of the University of Santo Tomas in study fora and cultural exchanges.

The leaders and staff of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) are busy in speaking with religious congregations and schools to host the Lumad ‘Bakwit School’. On September 13, Miriam College donated bags of rice and canned goods for the Lumad people through the effort of the RMP national coordinator. Though Miriam College cannot accommodate the Lumad ‘Bakwit School’, Lumad leaders and students appreciate their care and concern for the Lumad people.

On the remaining days of September, the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) parishes and communities will accommodate the Lumad and its clergy and lay people will accompany the Lumad people as they march on the streets with the United People’s Action during the commemoration of Martial Law of Ferdinand Marcos.

The involvement of the church people in the lives of the are oppressed ad exploited is not new to us. Church people (bishops, priests, pastors, nuns, seminarians, and lay church workers) offered the parishes, local churches, seminaries and convents as sanctuaries and refuge centers under Ferdinand Marcos’ martial law.

Church people visited the political prisoners who languished in jails and detention centers. They joined rallies, workers’ strikes, and protests against the Marcos dictatorship. Some church people immersed themselves with the peasants, fisherfolks, and national minorities in the countryside and some joined the New People’s Army. Many church people became leaders and cadres of the revolutionary movement. Some were martyred in the name of national liberation and democracy.

On September 21, 2018, church people will join in the rally to be spearheaded by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) and United People’s Action (UNA). They will join not only to remember the atrocities and human rights violations of the Marcos dictatorship but to oppose Rodrigo Duterte’s looming martial law nationwide. The Lumad, national minorities, and the Filipino people have shown condemnation and have acted against martial law in Mindanao. The people have condemned and acted against the economic policies and programs of the Duterte regime and all of Duterte’s Oplans (Tokhang, Tambay, Kapayapaan), as well as political persecutions against his critics.

The church leaders and church people will not be left inside of their comfort zones. They will march with the people struggling towards the emancipation of the oppressed and exploited.

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