Good day, esteemed members of the national defence committee.

Last week, we were with the relatives of victims of human rights violations. Without graves to go to, families of the disappeared offered flowers for their loved ones. Since Marcos Sr., nearly 2,000 people have been documented to have been abducted by state forces, and have remained missing, while 14 of them have been rendered desaparecidos under Marcos Jr.

We cried with families of drug war victims, as well as hundreds of those extrajudicially killed in the government's counter-insurgency campaigns. In the past two years, 105 farmers and indigenous people have been killed in this counter-insurgency war that the Philippine armed forces wage, through combat means, to end the communist movement. These gatherings reflect a disturbing continuum of the dire situation of human rights and international humanitarian law in the Philippines.

We receive reports on the military operations and bombings in rural and indigenous communities. Arms, weapons and helicopters—most bought and acquired outside the Philippines—are used in such operations in hamlet communities in order to force them to evacuate, or used to destroy farms, homes, schools and livelihood.

We fear that with the SoVFA being negotiated between our countries, Canadian troops and assets may be directly involved in these counter-insurgency campaigns that cause these violations.

As Canada develops its security agreements with the Philippine government, we believe that it is critical to put human rights and IHL at the front and centre of the discussions. There must be coherence of policy and practice, as expounded on by your “Voices at Risk” guidelines, as well as human rights initiatives in the Summit for Democracy.

We sincerely believe that the SoVFA will encourage, if not worsen, the climate of impunity in the Philippines and place Canadian troops in the context of the counter-insurgency war, making Canada complicit in the violations committed in it.

We advocate for peaceful political and diplomatic solutions in Asia, particularly in Southeast Asia. We believe that we need to demilitarize, and not escalate military tensions and increase a military presence in the West Philippine Sea. We need to try our very best, so as not to worsen the already difficult rights landscape in the country.

Thank you.