THE UNION of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) marks International Human Rights Day with a profound condemnation of the deepening systemic crisis in the Philippines, where gross human rights violations are intrinsically linked to wanton plunder of public coffers and a fascist government response to people’s resistance.
We stand in unyielding solidarity with all human rights defenders and the marginalized sectors, particularly our Lumad sisters and brothers, in the struggle against a corrupt and oppressive system.
The massive and continuing corruption by government officials—the wanton plunder of state coffers—is not a mere side issue; it is a direct cause of human rights deprivation.
• Deprivation of Social Services: Billions of pesos stolen by corrupt officials are funds intended for basic social services—healthcare, education, and social safety nets. This grand theft results in overcrowded classrooms, dilapidated hospitals, and the lack of essential aid for the poor, effectively denying the people their economic and social rights.
• Fueling Violence: This systemic corruption drives the government’s pursuit of anti-people development like large-scale mining and monocrop plantations. The stolen wealth is intertwined with the profits promised by these destructive projects, making the violent subjugation of local communities, especially Lumad, a necessary act to secure corporate plunder. The human rights violations are, therefore, a military defense of corruption-driven greed.
The government’s brutal counterinsurgency campaigns and its push for development aggression continue to trample upon the rights of the people, most severely impacting the Lumad communities in Mindanao:
• Attacks on Lumad Ancestral Domain: Military operations and the use of paramilitary forces are tools to forcibly clear land for corporate exploitation, systematically destroying the Lumad’s right to their ancestral domain, livelihood, and culture.
• Criminalization and Red-Tagging: Lumad leaders, farmers, and advocates who defend their lands and expose corruption are summarily red-tagged as ‘terrorists’ and subjected to extrajudicial killings, illegal arrests, and forced displacement.
The people’s growing outrage against this prevailing corrupt system—against the theft of public funds and the violence in their communities—is met with an increasingly fascist response by the state:
• Weaponization of the Law: Laws and state machinery are aggressively used not to curb corruption but to silence legitimate dissent. Critics and human rights defenders are subjected to trumped-up charges.
• Impunity and State Terror: The pervasive impunity enjoyed by state forces and corrupt officials, particularly in extrajudicial killings and massive theft, shows that the government’s priority is not justice but the preservation of a system rooted in corruption and violence. This naked, authoritarian force is an attempt to crush the collective will of the people for genuine change.
On this International Human Rights Day, the UPLM declares that there can be no peace or development where corruption reigns and human rights are violated with impunity.
We demand that the government:
• Stop the Fascist Repression: Immediately cease all forms of political persecution, illegal arrests, red-tagging, and killings against activists, journalists, and legitimate dissenters.
• Prosecute the Corrupt: Launch genuine and decisive efforts to prosecute corrupt high-ranking officials and recover the plundered public funds, ensuring that these resources are instead allocated for essential social services.
• Respect Indigenous Rights: Withdraw all military presence from Lumad ancestral domains and revoke permits for destructive mining and monocrop plantations.
• Uphold Accountability: Dismantle the system of impunity and ensure all perpetrators of human rights abuses are brought to justice.
The UPLM remains steadfast in our commitment to utilize the power of the law alongside the power of the people to resist a corrupt, fascistic system and struggle for a society where every Filipino’s right to life, liberty, and dignified living is upheld.
Makatarungang Mundo, Ipaglaban!
References:
Atty. Antonio C. Azarcon
UPLM Chair
Contact: +639199124767
Atty. Arvin Dexter M. Lopoz
UPLM Public Information Officer and Spokesperson
Contact: +639260583543
