For Immediate Release
August 15, 2025
Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (FFPS) condemns the Marcos government’s ongoing attacks against Philippine communities and its fake rhetoric around International Humanitarian Law (IHL) as nothing more than a façade to cover up its own extensive violations.
“The Marcos presidency is marked by continuous violations of IHL, including indiscriminate aerial bombardments, hamletting of rural villages, forced evacuations of Indigenous communities, and the abduction and killing of activists. These are not isolated incidents but they are part of a program of a war of suppression against the Filipino people,” said Robert Reid, chairperson of FFPS. “For Marcos to speak of ‘peace’ and host an IHL conference while his government wages war against its own people is a slap in the face to the very principles of IHL.”
The organization also likened the Philippine military’s occupation of rural villages to the Israeli military’s cordoning of Palestinian communities. FFPS described this as “an invasion of Filipino communities by state military goons and violence.” They emphasized that hamletting is itself a blatant violation of IHL. Among the worst perpetrators is the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which serves as Marcos’ chief instrument for militarizing civilian life and suppressing dissent.
“Marcos is as much a ‘champion’ of International Humanitarian Law as Netanyahu or Hitler,” Reid said. “The United Nations has already urged the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC for its record of red-tagging, harassment, and attacks on civilians. Marcos’ answer is to rebrand it as the so-called National Coordinating Council for Unity, Peace, and Development. But a new name will not erase its record or its role. Whether called NTF-ELCAC or NCC-UPD, it remains an instrument of repression. These fake ‘peace’ initiatives and false claims of being an ‘IHL champion’ are only designed to mask a brutal war of suppression. They do not uphold International Law — they trample it.”
FFPS is urging concerned individuals and organizations worldwide to support the Filipino people in their struggle to expose and condemn the Marcos government’s systematic IHL violations. On August 26, member organizations and allies will hold rallies at Philippine embassies and consulates around the globe in a show of international solidarity against the Government of the Republic of the Philippines’ war of suppression.
About Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (FFPS):
Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (FFPS) / Friends of the National Democratic Front (FNDF) is a global organization that supports the Filipino people’s struggle for genuine national liberation as outlined in the 12 point program of the NDF. For more information, visit https://ffps.info.
Contact: contact@ffps.info