Witnesses testified to "the impact of an exploitative system that has deprived millions of Filipinos of their livelihood, demolished the shanties of the marginalized poor, grabbed lands of the peasants and condemned workers to eternal poverty through perpetual contractualization and the exportation of labor, many of whom are victimized abroad," Colmenares summarized.
The evidence revealed the imposition of "an exploitative system which has reduced the Philippines into a producer of raw material for industries; reduced the Philippines into a mere source of cheap labor and a lucrative and pliant market for their goods." This is called neoliberalism.
The tribunal concluded that the Duterte regime "has consistently failed to provide the basic rights to work; to living wages and regular employment; to land; to an adequate standard of living; and to health, housing and education." The tribunal also faulted the regime for imposing "new taxes that hit primarily the poor; and forced displacement of poor families to install tourism projects on their lands."
"Farmers are deprived of the lands they have tilled for ages and are attacked; workers are exploited and their strikes violently dispersed; the urban poor remain homeless and threatened when they assert their rights; education is commercialized and inaccessible to the great majority," the tribunal noted. In addition, "thousands are forced to migrate daily, including nurses, under a labor export policy; the right to livelihood is curtailed; and distressed overseas workers are neglected and abandoned."
The tribunal found violations of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Convention Concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize; Convention on the Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively; Algiers Declaration; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; and International Convention on Protections of Rights of All Migrant Workers and their Families.
Violations of the Rights to National Self-Determination and Development"Duterte has essentially demonstrated his allegiance to US imperialist goals in Asia-Pacific region," the tribunal concluded. His government "also overturned anew the victory of the people in removing US military bases."
The tribunal explained how the U.S. bases in the Philippines facilitate Duterte's counterinsurgency program: "US presence and the permanent and expanded basing of US troops are further emboldening the Defendant Duterte government in implementing the counterinsurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan patterned after the 2009 US Counterinsurgency Guide and financed by Defendant US government."
U.S. government assistance to the Duterte government includes the provision of "intelligence, funding, orientation, training and arms to promote and pursue its economic and geopolitical interests in the region."
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