The General Board of Church and Society has partnered with the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) for the International Observer Mission (IOM) monitoring the 2025 elections in the Philippines amid rising concerns over electoral violence. Director of Peace With Justice, Colleen Moore, has served as a Commissioner for the IOM. The mission has concluded that the 2025 Philippine midterm elections did not meet international standards for free and fair elections.
Through deployment of research teams across the country, conduct of witness and expert interviews, and other research, the IOM identified numerous factors — including electoral violence, anti-people policies, anti-democratic rule of family political dynasties, and voter disenfranchisement — that all played a role in violating the rights of Filipinos in the context of the election.
The United Methodist Church has long stood for human rights in the Philippines. Resolution #4110 “Philippines: Democratic Governance, Human Rights, and the Peace Process” states, “The United Methodist Church is increasingly alarmed by and concerned about the intensifying violations of human rights in the Philippines. Such violations that take place within the perpetual framework of U.S. counterinsurgency and military doctrine and the revival of a ‘war on drugs’ rhetoric take the form of rampant extrajudicial killings, summary executions, abductions, torture, arbitrary and prolonged political detentions, red-tagging false charges and enforced disappearances.”
Church and Society condemns electoral-related killings, red-tagging targeting activists and candidates, widespread disenfranchisement of voters with voting machine malfunctions and vote-buying, and coordinated disinformation campaigns. This is also happening within the context of militarization, armed conflict, human rights violations, and social inequities. The results of the elections only further entrench the social inequities found in the country and the geopolitical dynamics at play in Philippine politics.
We stand with the recommendations of the IOM calling for legal reforms, changes to the electoral system, democratic accountability, international standards for election observation, respect for international humanitarian law, and human rights monitoring. Above all, all countries and international bodies must call on the Philippines government to end red-tagging, the use of travel bans and surveillance on domestic and international activists, and attacks against candidates and partylists.
Be sure to read the report and take action by raising awareness in your communities of the ongoing human rights violations in the Philippines and advocating for your lawmakers to stop military aid to the Philippines and work for a true just peace.