Marcos, Duterte, and Biden are guilty
Malaya Movement echoes the International People’s Tribunal verdict
Malaya Movement USA uplifts the verdict of the International People’s Tribunal (IPT) held in Brussels on May 17-18 which found President Marcos Jr., former President Duterte, the Philippine Government, President Biden, and the U.S. government guilty of war crimes or violations of international humanitarian law.
Unlike traditional courts, the IPT is an important judicial forum that represents the interests of national and social liberation struggles and movements. The IPT heard fifteen witnesses and supplementary evidence that included the massacre of the members of the Fausto family in Negros Occidental; the kidnappings of environmental rights activists, Jhed Tamano and Jonila Castro; the murder of NDFP consultant, Randall Echanis; and the attempted assassination of Chinese American journalist, Brandon Lee.
The IPT focused on war crimes because of the Philippine government's clear and rampant disregard of human rights in its vicious response to armed resistance. Both the Philippine government and National Democratic Front of the Philippines must abide by international humanitarian law and international human rights law that protect civilians and upholds the rights of combatants. Yet, instead of addressing the roots of armed conflict– poverty, landlessness, joblessness– the Philippine government resorts to illegal arrests, extrajudicial killings (EJKs), kidnappings and disappearances of civilians, red-tagging, indiscriminate firings and bombings of whole communities, and the inhumane treatment of combatants.
The verdict also emphasized that the United States government “is responsible for directing, training, and arming” the Philippine government’s counterinsurgency and providing “ diplomatic cover” amidst international outrage and criticism of its policies.
This most recent verdict follows in the footsteps of previous people’s tribunals that tried the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Marcos Sr, the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo government, and the Duterte administration. The IPT is an important court because the Philippines’ own court system only protects and enables the Marcoses and Dutertes, one example being the Supreme Court’s declaration of Marcos Sr. as a national hero and its upholding of Duterte’s martial law in Mindanao. While the Philippine House of Representatives is currently investigating the drug war EJKs, it is not investigating the war crimes committed by the expanding US-backed counterinsurgency program of the Philippine government.
This guilty verdict is of particular importance to Malaya Movement USA as an organization founded as a direct response to the increasing fascism under Duterte, seen in the red-tagging and killings of the poor, workers, farmers, indigenous peoples, journalists, and other activists and human rights defenders. We must continue to seek justice and accountability for these human rights violations and war crimes. Let it not remain as testimonies and a verdict - let it fuel our fight for human rights, democracy and sovereignty in the Philippines.
