December 6, 2007
By Matthew Davies

U.S. military aid to the Philippines should be capped and human rights conditions applied to the entire amount, more than 270 Church leaders, NGOs and citizen groups urged in a December 3 letter sent to members of Congress.

Representing the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop Christopher Epting, Ecumenical and Interfaith officer, and the Rev. Canon Brian Grieves, director of Peace and Justice Ministries, joined the call for the final version of bill H.R. 2764 to be sensitive to the human rights crisis in the Philippines.

A spate of extra-judicial or political killings has been reported in the Philippines under the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Such killings occur without the permission of a court or legal authority and are generally carried out by a State in order to rid itself of a disruptive influence.

The letter raises specific concerns about "the significant consequences for the Filipino people of the military aid being extended unchecked to the Government of the Philippines."

The full text of the letter is available here.

"Human rights groups in the Philippines continue to report being wrongly targeted for human rights violations by Philippine military and paramilitary forces working with the military with impunity carried out openly and without fear of prosecution by the government," the letter said. "The Government of the Philippines continues to deny the military's involvement in the killings."

In the weeks ahead, a joint conference committee will work to resolve the differences between the House and Senate versions of H.R. 2764.

The letter to Congress urges the final bill to limit the amount of military aid to the Philippines to $11.1 million; ensure that human rights conditions are applied to the entire amount; and make publicly available certain reports by the Department of State to promote greater transparency and understanding between the United States and the people of the Philippines. "The rights and freedoms of the Filipino people depend on it," the letter said.

"This letter makes clear the continuing commitment of Church leaders in the U.S. to speak out against the killings of innocent people, including Philippine Church leaders and members that have been targeted by government supported entities," said Grieves, who went on a fact-finding mission to the Philippines in December 2006 and learned of the sobering statistics that more than 700 people had perished as a result of extra-judicial killings during Arroyo's administration.

The letter raised concerns about the amount of military aid in the Senate bill being raised to $30 million, "nearly three times the $11.1 million originally requested by the State Department for FY 2008."

"Increasing the amount of aid by $19 million over the State Department's request has already sent a message to Philippine Government that the United States government supports the Philippine military's counter-insurgency strategy," the letter said. "We urge the Committee to limit military aid to the Philippines to no more than $11.1 million, a figure that was not altered by the House." The letter also noted that all of the military aid should be conditioned.

"It is deeply disturbing that the Senate would propose to increase military assistance to the Philippine government by nearly two times that requested by the State Department," Grieves said. "That sends a message that the U.S. does not take seriously the human rights violations being perpetrated by the Arroyo Administration, a fact pointed out to me by the Prime Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines, Ignacio Soliba in a recent conversation. We just have to make a strong witness against that kind of foreign policy."

The United States, Grieves said, "should be the leading international voice championing human rights. So I hope the Senate will reconsider and only fund the original $11.1mn while leaving intact conditions for disbursement being dependent on a government cleanup of these heinous murders."

In a January 2007 letter to the deputy director general of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Jefferts Schori challenged the Philippine government for not showing "any real success in ending extra-judicial killings."

"Killing is an affront to the God who created us all, and the apparent governmental sanction of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines affects us all," said Jefferts Schori, who recently visited China and Korea for meetings with senior church officials and a conference in Seoul that included a peace trip to North Korea. "The fact of our own government's support for the military in the Philippines should concern every American."

"When I was on this last Asian trip, I heard repeatedly from bishops, clergy, and lay persons about their concern for the people of the Philippines," she added. "I also hear often from Filipino-Americans of their concern for the church and its leaders in the Philippines."

The December 3 letter cited concerns that the extrajudicial executions are aimed at eliminating "key civil society leaders, including human rights defenders, trade unionists, land reform advocates, and others."

The murder of Bishop Alberto Ramento of the Philippine Independent Church, who was found stabbed to death at his Tarlac City rectory on the morning of October 3, 2006, prompted an outcry from Church leaders calling for an end to the spate of such killings. Ramento had been an outspoken critic of the Philippine government and received several death threats in the lead-up to his murder.

In November 2006, Grieves joined the Rev. Dr. Fred Vergara, national missioner for Asian American Ministries, in registering concerns with the Philippine Embassy and the State Department about the deteriorating human rights situation in the Philippines.

Ambassador Willy Gaa at the Philippine Embassy promised to relate the matter to Arroyo and noted that the Philippine Human Rights Report of the ecumenical churches should also be submitted to the Melo Commission of the Philippine Government, which is in charge of investigating the killings.

The December 3 letter noted that the Melo Commission, appointed to investigate the causes of the human rights abuses, found evidence to link the military to the killings. However, the Government of the Philippines, according to the letter, "continues to deny the military's involvement in the killings, claiming that ‘the Melo Commission clearly indicated that there was no evidence showing that the police and the military were the perpetrators of killings and other actions."

The letter underscored the need for "transparency and accountability in the reporting process are vital so that people in both the United States and the Philippines will have a full understanding of the efforts by the United States Government to ensure that our military aid is not promoting human rights violations.

"Therefore, we urge that members of Congress ensure that the State Department's reports regarding the end of the Philippine government's campaign against civil society and the process used to monitor that military aid is not being misused by the Philippine government are made publicly available," the letter added.

"As full communion partners with both the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and the Episcopal Church in the Philippines, our church is monitoring this situation very carefully," said Epting. "We keep our sisters and brothers in the Philippines in our daily prayers and are prepared to back up those prayers with strong advocacy on behalf of their human rights."

Episcopal News Service
Matthew Davies is editor of Episcopal Life Online and international correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.