Three Philippine legislators are in Canada seeking help regarding extrajudicial killings and Canadian mining companies operating in the Philippines. These companies are accused of hiring military and paramilitary forces to secure their operations.
The members of Philippine Congress appeared before the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights on Tuesday, asking the government to suspend any funding for projects in the Philippines that may be linked to human rights abuses.
"Canada's trade and aid relations with the Philippines include the export of military goods, military and police training assistance, and development projects that have been linked to military pacification campaigns and mining operations that make use of the military and paramilitary to suppress legitimate dissent and protests," says a news release from the Stop the Killings Network, an international group aimed at stopping extrajudicial political killings in the Philippines.
The website for Human Rights Watch says extrajudicial killings and disappearances take place in the Philippines and armed insurgents and militant Islamist groups kill civilians, politicians and others.
Human rights activists, journalists, outspoken clergy and left-wing politicians are among those to be "disappeared" or killed. Human Rights Watch says the Philippine military has played a role in many of the killings.
Philippine Congress Member Luz Ilagan of the Gabriela Women's Party spoke to The Epoch Times about the reason for the trip. Besides calling on Canada to suspend aid for programs that may be directly linked to extra-judicial killings, she also highlighted the role of Canadian mining companies operating in the Philippines.
"There are five major Canadian mining companies in the Philippines, they have been allowed to go into the Philippines because of a mining law."
"That means these companies from a foreign land can go to the Philippines and explore and exploit natural resources. They are given 25 years to do these operations, renewable for another 25 years. They enjoy tax holidays and they are allowed to send back to their mother countries the earnings that they derive from their operations," she said.
"The problem is that these mining companies have been accused of hiring Philippine military and paramilitary personal — highly armed — which have committed human rights abuses."
Ilagan said the meeting with the House of Commons subcommittee went extremely well and every member expressed willingness to look into the issue; many expressed shock at what is happening there.
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