MANILA — International and local civil society groups have condemned what they described as escalating harassment and surveillance of delegates participating in the ongoing International Solidarity Mission (ISM)organized by Peoples Rising for Climate Justice (PRCJ) in different parts of the country.

According to PRCJ, the ISM includes delegates from Asia-Pacific organizations and international solidarity groups such as the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP). The teams have been conducting investigative and learning missions since October 11 in Rizal, Occidental Mindoro, Negros Occidental, and Eastern Visayas to assess the impacts of climate change and reported human rights violations affecting local communities.

Delegates also examined the alleged negative effects of substandard and poorly planned flood control projects in certain areas.

However, the organizers said that teams across multiple sites have been subjected to surveillance and harassment by state forces and local officials.

In Barangay Sta. Inez, Tanay, Rizal, ISM delegates reportedly faced harassment from members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and persistent surveillance by soldiers stationed near their lodging. The team there had been investigating the Kaliwa-Kanan-Laiban Dam project and its impact on local communities.

In Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro, participants reported being followed by unidentified individuals on motorcycles, aerial drone surveillance, and increased military and police presence around their campsite. The team was conducting inquiries into the situation of a Mangyan-Iraya Indigenous community displaced from their ancestral land.

Meanwhile, the Eastern Visayas team reported surveillance by individuals who identified themselves as AFP intelligence officers at a hotel in Tacloban City, Leyte, while delegates in Manila also said they were monitored by a man who introduced himself as an intelligence operative.

“We demand an immediate end to these attacks and for the Philippine government to allow us to freely conduct our International Solidarity Mission,” said Daning Ramos of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, who joined the Mindoro team.

“The International Solidarity Mission has no intention other than to learn more about the reality of people on the ground in one of the countries most impacted by climate change in the world,” said Rachelle Junsay, spokesperson of PRCJ. “We resolutely condemn the continuing harassment carried out by the Philippine government under Marcos Jr. on our international delegates, and call on the international community to take a stand against these attacks.”