MANILA, Philippines – Some Australian lawmakers either mounted or joined protests inside and outside their parliament building while President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered a rare speech before their colleagues.
As part of the audience, Senator Janet Rice of the Australian Greens raised a banner that read, “Stop the human rights abuses.”
In a tweet, Rice said it was a shame that the Australian government invited Marcos to address the parliament.
“Under President Marcos Jr., corruption in the Philippines is getting worse. There are hundreds of political prisoners and ‘anti-terrorism’ laws are used as legal cover for extrajudicial killings,” she said in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The Australian Greens describes itself as the “most powerful third force” in Australian politics. It is the third largest individual political party in the Australian Senate, holding 11 out of 76 seats in the upper chamber.
In 2022, the Philippine Supreme Court upheld most provisions of the anti-terror law, a measure passed during the administration of Marcos’ predecessor Rodrigo Duterte. Critics have feared that the legislation would be weaponized to target the opposition.
According to rights groups, there are over 800 political prisoners in the Philippines – 90 of them arrested during the Marcos administration.
There was no specific mention of human rights during Marcos’ 17-minute speech.
Reporter Daniel Hurst of The Guardian Australia said Rice was escorted out of the chamber.
“The stance is causing ripples among MPs (members of parliament). I heard one say the protest act was a ‘disgrace,'” he wrote.
Outside parliament, other senators from Australian Greens joined protests, including Jordon Steele-John, David Shoebridge, and Barbara Pocock.
“The Parliament is once more being used to launder the political reputation of those involved in serious human rights abuses. This time it is Bongbong Marcos, president of the Philippines,” Shoebridge wrote on X.
“The deep, cruel legacy of the Marcos regimes – senior and junior – have crushed community, peasant, women’s, trade union and human rights activists in the Philippines. We marked this legacy today as he visited parliament,” Pocock added.
Marcos is the son of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, whose Martial Law regime was considered among the darkest chapters of Philippine history.
The Marcos patriarch was kicked out of office after the 1986 People Power Revolution, but the Marcos family has since rehabilitated its image through what critics describe as a systematic disinformation campaign.
– Rappler.com