PENANG, Malaysia — The Philippines is considered the deadliest country in Asia for farmers, indigenous peoples, and land activists advocating for land rights.
Malaysia-based PAN Asia Pacific (PANAP) issued this statement as the Philippines hosts the largest regional conference on International Humanitarian Law (IHL) from August 11 to 14.
In 2024, PANAP reported monitoring six killings related to land conflicts and struggles in the Philippines, which resulted in nine victims. These findings are part of an upcoming report, “Land & Rights Watch,” that the regional advocacy group will release later this month. Globally, the Philippines ranked second behind Mexico, which recorded five killings with 18 victims.
Aside from killings, PANAP also monitored 10 cases of land conflict-related arrests, detention, and legal persecution in the Philippines last year, with 41 victims, as well as nine cases of threats, harassment, and physical assault with 11 victims.
“These alarming numbers cast doubt on the Philippine government’s claimed commitment to human rights and international humanitarian law. President Marcos Jr.’s administration aims to present the Philippines as a regional champion of human rights through hosting the IHL regional conference. However, the increasingly repressive political environment experienced by Filipino farmers, farm workers, indigenous peoples, and other rural sectors—and their advocates—paints a very different picture,” PANAP deputy executive director Arnold Padilla said.
The new PANAP report compiled reports of human rights abuses against communities resisting land and resource grabs that it monitored last year. However, just in the weeks before Manila hosted the IHL regional conference, which brought together 30 countries from the Asia Pacific, human rights and cause-oriented groups in the Philippines reported a series of human rights atrocities against local farmers and indigenous peoples.
On August 1, 2025, indigenous Maranao farmer and former political prisoner Juan Sumilhig was reportedly killed by soldiers from the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Battalion in San Jose, a town in Occidental Mindoro, more than 330 kilometers south of Manila. Then, from August 2 to 3, the Army’s 16th Infantry Battalion conducted strafing, shelling, and two aerial bombings in a rural village in the town of Tagkawayan in Quezon province, over 260 kilometers south of Manila. These recent incidents followed a series of ongoing military operations in these areas that involved strafing and aerial bombings.
“We recognize that a civil war is ongoing in the Philippines between the government and revolutionary groups in rural areas. But IHL clearly prohibits bombings, indiscriminate gunfire, and the killing of unarmed civilians, which the Philippine military appears to violate. Additionally, relentless red-tagging, including that of farmers and activists asserting the right to land, blurs the line between civilians and combatants within the government’s counterinsurgency efforts and is used to justify such attacks,” added Padilla.
PANAP also noted that efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to rural communities affected by the army’s strafing and bombings are allegedly being impeded by suspected military elements. “Again, if true, this violates the IHL, which recognizes the right of civilians to relief essential for their survival and mandates parties to the conflict to allow the safe and unimpeded passage of such relief. We hope that the Marcos Jr. administration is not copying Israel’s playbook in Gaza and allows the entry of humanitarian assistance to affected communities,” Padilla said.
The Philippines is a State Party to all four of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, which form the foundation of international humanitarian law and provide vital protections for wounded soldiers, prisoners of war, and civilians during armed conflict.
PANAP urged the Marcos Jr. administration to show that it truly respects and upholds IHL and human rights principles by halting the military’s offensive, allowing an independent and credible probe of the reported human rights abuses, and making those behind the atrocities accountable.
Reference: Arnold Padilla, Deputy Executive Director (arnold.padilla@panap.net)
