ICHRP Says No To Marcos Jr. Bid For Seat On UN Security Council

January 15, 2025

On Saturday January 11, Philippine President Marcos Jr. hosted a “Vin D’Honneur,” at the Presidential palace, where he called upon foreign diplomats to support his regime’s bid for a seat on the UN Security Council for the 2027-28 term. The Security Council is comprised of 15 member states including the 5 veto-holding permanent members – the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China and Russia.

In his appeal for support, Marcos claimed that the Philippines has “rich experience in building peace” and that Philippine foreign policy has always ensured “international law is faithfully complied with and permeates all facets of relations among nations.”

For years, Marcos Jr. has fashioned an image of himself based on widespread disinformation campaigns, which rose to special prominence over the course of his 2022 election campaign. Marcos’ recent address to foreign diplomats, which boasts a supposed record of “building peace” and projects concern for “international law,” is yet another attempt to distort reality to enable Marcos to gain international respectability and support.

“The Philippine President’s remarks are indeed, patently false,” said ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy. “Over the years, projects like Investigate PH and the International People’s Tribunal on War Crimes, alongside the expansive documentation of Philippine human rights organizations, have thoroughly demonstrated the chronic cruelty of state terror in the Philippines. Human Rights Groups have found the Philippine government continues to operate with massive impunity while it remains guilty of widespread war crimes in violation of international law. This is not peacebuilding,” continued Murphy.

While the armed conflict between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) rages on, President Marcos Jr. has failed to address the social and economic roots of this conflict and the ongoing suffering of the Filipino people. Instead, Marcos Jr. has created hostile conditions for peace negotiations with the NDFP, directing the Armed Forces of the Philippines to continue their counterinsurgency campaign, committing numerous war crimes.

In his bid for a seat on the Security Council, Marcos Jr. seeks to crown his ongoing misinformation campaign with further international recognition. Granting this to Marcos Jr. would be a reprehensible award to a regime committing unconscionable crimes against its people.

But it would also be a danger for people across the world. The Marcos Jr. regime, indeed, has time after time proved subservient to US interests in the Philippines. Under his presidency, the number of US military bases and facilities increased from 4 to nearly 20 including those in undisclosed locations and those under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). In addition, Marcos Jr.’s signed the Bilateral Defense Agreement with the US in May 2024 and is now moving to update the US-RP Mutual Defense Treaty, not only to expand the treaty’s geographical coverage to include the South China Sea, but also to provide legal grounds for the US to use the Philippines as a launching pad for its wars of aggression in Asia.

With the US facing global backlash over its support for Israel’s genocidal campaign and pulling out all stops to maintain its geopolitical dominance over China, Marcos Jr.’s unwavering allegiance makes him an ideal proxy to advance this agenda within the Security Council. A Philippines seat on the UNSC, then, effectively gives the US another mouthpiece favoring the US war agenda.

A Philippine seat on the UNSC, then, carries with it critical ramifications for Filipinos and people across the globe who clamor for peace based on justice. ICHRP calls for vigorous campaigning against the Marcos Jr. bid for a seat. We urge parliamentarians and national governments who genuinely care for peace to quickly oppose Marcos Jr. and to end support for the war crimes of his regime.

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