15 US solons asked Biden to press Marcos on human rights

Reps. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Ilhan Omar (MN-5) and and Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) were among the 15 U.S. Congress members who sent a letter to Pres. Joe Biden urging him to press Marcos about human rights violations in the Philippines. WIKIPEDIA

WASHINGTON, DC — As Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was about to meet President Joe Biden on May 1, several members of Congress sent a letter to Biden urging him to address the worsening human rights violations in the Philippines in their talks.

U.S. Representative Janice Schakowsky (IL-09) and 13 other members of Congress—including Susan Wild (PA-7), Ilhan Omar (MN-5) and Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) — requested that Marcos meaningfully investigate and prosecute these crimes, citing the hundreds of extrajudicial killings and illegal arrests that have allegedly continued with impunity under the Marcos administration.

Recently, Alex Dolorosa, an organizer and paralegal with the BPO Industry Employee Network (BIEN) in the Philippines “was found dead after years of surveillance and red-tagging of him and his organization,” the letter states.

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“We also recognize the legacy of Marcos Sr.’s martial law during which an estimated 70,000 people were imprisoned, 34,000 were tortured and over 3,200 were killed. And we do not forget that the Marcos Sr. administration received substantial backing from three separate United States administrations.”

The Congressmembers additionally highlighted the widespread reach of the Philippine human rights crisis as demonstrated by Brandon Lee, an environmental and human rights defender and U.S. citizen who, in August 2019, was shot by state forces in the Philippines and subsequently paralyzed from the neck-down. The Commission on Human Rights in the Philippines determined that his case was a human rights violation, but the perpetrators remain at large.

The 15 members of Congress are the latest voices joining the chorus raising concern over President Marcos’ visit to the US this week.

On Monday, over a hundred Filipino activists staged an all-day vigil and multiple rallies in Washington, DC. The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines and over one hundred faith organizations and institutions also initiated a letter to President Biden expressing deep concern over Marcos’ visit in the midst of increasingly dangerous conditions for activists, journalists, and workers in the Philippines.