Michael Alcantara's article in IPJC’s most recent edition of A Matter of Spirit, "Beloved Community",
addresses the the human rights abuses of the Duterte's regime. An organizer in the Seattle Filipino community, he shares about the painful history, and continued practice, of human rights abuses in the Philippines, highlighting the direct complicity of the U.S. government.

Michael describes the current reality: “Under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, … [the] Philippine military and police have increased their targeting of social activists, accusing them of being communists (a common tactic known as "red-tagging") and terrorists. As a result, indigenous people, human rights workers, peasants, labor organizers, environmental activists, journalists, health workers, local elected officials, and clergy —many that I met on my trips —have been red-tagged, imprisoned, and extrajudicially killed… Since Duterte's election in 2017, the Philippines has received over $550 million in U.S. taxpayer money in the form of military aid. Similar to the ongoing events in Palestine, Colombia, and many other places in the world, we see that these contributions are leading toward people's suppression rather than people's liberation. “

We cannot remain silent. As people of faith informed by the words of the U.S. Catholic Bishops in 1986 “Every citizen also has the responsibility to work to secure justice and human rights through an organized social response.” We must pass Philippine Human Rights Act to withhold U.S. support from the Filipino Police and Military until they prove cessation of their dehumanizing and violent practices.  

We stand with our AAPI brothers and sisters to uphold the dignity of all peoples by holding our government accountable to stop funding government sponsored suppression through the Philippine Human Rights Act (H.R.3884)!

Join IPJC and Act Now!

International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines: https://ichrpus.org/
Malaya Movement: https://malayamovement.com/