‘KILLINGS SPIKE UNDER DUTERTE’
Group claims his fiery speeches have emboldened killings of indigenous people
MURDERS of environmental activists and land defenders in the Philippines have risen sharply under President Rodrigo Duterte, an international rights watchdog said yesterday, alleging his speeches and policies have “emboldened” the killers.
Campaigners who challenge powerful logging, mining and fruit growing interests have long faced deadly violence, but the recent increase marked a “disturbing” jump, according to a report from Global Witness.
In July, the group said 30 killings in the country last year made it the deadliest in the world for land defenders — a first since the group began reporting such deaths in 2012.
“Since Duterte came to power, there’s been a huge increase in the killings of land and environmental defenders including indigenous activists,” said senior Global Witness campaigner Ben Leather.
The report said the toll was at least 113 since Duterte became president in mid-2016, while no fewer than 65 were killed in the three years before his rule.
“The president’s aggressive rhetoric against defenders, coupled with the climate of violence and impunity fostered by his drugs war, has only made things worse,” Leather added.
Duterte’s presidency has been marked by his internationally condemned anti-drugs campaign that authorities say has resulted in more than 5,500 dealers or users being gunned down.
The president also threatens enemies in his frequent, rambling statements that are peppered with profanity and are part of his popular appeal.
During a 2017 press conference, he threatened to bomb tribal community schools, which he accused of pushing students to become communist rebels, according to Global Witness.
The report cited a series of killings carried out since Duterte won a landslide election victory.
In 2017, a member of an environmental group was shot dead while attempting to confiscate illegally cut timber destined for boutique hotels being built amid a tourist boom on Palawan island, known as the country’s last ecological frontier, the report said.
A community leader in Mindanao was shot dead in a 2016 ambush after speaking out against a mining project run by a company headed by a businessman, who was an election campaign donor for Duterte, Global Witness said.
It said it investigated cases of ranchers growing pineapples and bananas for fruit multinationals on land claimed by tribesmen, one of whom was killed — allegedly by guards of a Del Monte Philippines contract grower in 2017.
Del Monte Philippines, in a statement, denied the report’s allegations, adding that it “vigorously promotes the welfare of stakeholders across its global supply chain”.