Pass the PHRA Coalition Confronts Rep. Darrell Issa at South China Sea Conference; Opposes $500 Million Increase in U.S. Military Aid to the Philippines
Pass the PHRA Coalition lobbies for the passing of H.R.3884 - Philippine Human Rights Act; condemns U.S. military presence in Indo-Pacific and U.S. military support for the Philippine military
Washington, D.C. — Members of the Pass the Philippine Human Rights Act (PHRA) Coalition and the Resist NATO Coalition confronted Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) during his keynote remarks at the Fourteenth Annual South China Sea Conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) this Thursday morning. The intervention called upon Rep. Issa to retract his recently passed amendment to HR 8036, which calls for an additional U.S. $500 million in military aid to the Philippines.
The congressman, a member of the US-Philippine Friendship Caucus and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, spoke proudly of his longtime relationship with the Philippines and new amendment to increase aid to the country. Rep. Issa advocated for providing “drones and other assets that allow for surveillance” to the Philippines, capabilities that would be used to track and surveil activists and repress any resistance to U.S. intrusion on the islands and US-Marcos regime human rights violations among the Filipino people. Issa also praised the alliances the U.S. has built with nations strategic to its geopolitical interests in the Indo-Pacific, like Japan “...agreeing to put boots on the ground in the Philippines in a ‘cooperative format’ along with the United States because of a common threat–China.”
Marc Rodrego, an activist from Malaya Movement USA highlighted the deadly impacts of increasing U.S. military aid and presence in the Philippines, such as war crimes, environmental destruction, and neglect of the Filipino people. Rep. Issa’s efforts only contribute to “the U.S. defending its assets in the Philippines, using Filipino lives. The U.S. kills Filipinos by funding war criminals.”
Andrew Much, from the Baltimore Committee of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (Baltimore-CHRP) echoed the findings of the recent International People’s Tribunal in Europe, which found the U.S. complicit in ongoing war crimes in the Philippines, and the case of U.S. Citizen Brandon Lee, who testified at the Tribunal. In his testimony, Lee shared that he had survived an assassination attempt by the Philippine military. The protestor called out Rep. Issa’s hypocrisy (who also represents California’s 48th Congressional District) saying Lee “too is from California but unlike you he represents the American and Filipino people. We as the American people do not want U.S. troops in the Philippines. We do not want U.S. war mongering in the Philippines. We do NOT want the West Philippine Sea to be militarized.”
While Rep. Issa claimed, “...[T]he rules of international law need to be obeyed,” as justification for funding and training a Philippines coast guard loyal to U.S. interests, these laws do not seem to apply to Rep. Issa when it comes to supporting the countless, recorded war crimes and human rights violations committed by the U.S.-Marcos regime.
The protest occurred simultaneous to the NATO Summit and Heads of State meeting with Indo-Pacific Partners. Since the 2022 Madrid NATO Summit, the U.S.has signed more military agreements with Indo-Pacific Partners, resulting in heightened militarization of the South China Sea and expanded U.S. military presence in the Philippines. Cody Urban of the Resist NATO Coalition exposed the result of the buildup, stating, “Issa’s claim that ‘we have to hit China where it hurts economically’ reveals the lie at the heart of NATO’s Washington Declaration that claims ‘NATO is a defensive alliance.’ Economic strangulation of another country is an act of aggression, not defense.” Urban added, “This will only bring more militarization to countries like the Philippines, put a target on their back, and drag them into a proxy war for U.S. interests.”
Coalition members also reject the Philippine Enhanced Resilience Act (PERA), first introduced by Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), which would allocate $2.5B USD of military aid to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Instead, advocates are lobbying for the passage of the Philippine Human Rights Act (PHRA), which would suspend all American military aid to the Philippines until human rights abuses are investigated. The PHRA bill was first introduced to Congress by Representative Susan Wild in 2021.
To learn more about the coalition, visit the campaign website at Philippine Human Rights Act. Social media account is @passthephra on Instagram.
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