We, the Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines (CEC) and Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE), condemn the latest wave of surveillance, harassment, and red-tagging of our offices in the past five days.
Just an hour ago, a volley of posters still fresh with spray paint red-tagging and demonizing progressive party-list groups Bayan Muna, ACT Teachers, and Gabriela, were thrown at our national office’s gate and outside neighboring houses. Earlier today, one of our staff members reported seeing two uniformed policemen taking pictures in the direction of our office gate.
Last Thursday, plainclothes policemen knocked at our office, looking for an individual not familiar with our staff. They took a picture of our staffer without consent and they did not present any warrant to search.
This is happening amid the mass arrests of 93 farmers and land reform advocates engaging in land cultivation in Concepcion, Tarlac, and the recent arrest of an anti-dam activist in Pakil, Laguna. We fear that this is the beginning of a crackdown against land and environmental defenders under the incoming authoritarian Marcos-Duterte regime.
Our office has been repeatedly targeted by documented cases of surveillance, red-tagging, and even an attempted raid since 2018 because of our work on environmental defenders together with eminent institutions such as the Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations Human Rights System, and international NGOs such as Global Witness and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
We enjoin our allies, friends, and the general public to join us in condemning these attacks against Kalikasan PNE, CEC, and other fellow land and environmental defenders. Our voices should be recognized and respected as we speak truth to power over the worsening ecological and climate crises our nation is facing.
We call on the CHR and the various UN human rights and environmental offices we have worked with in the past years to undertake preventive interventions against these human rights abuses and threats.#
