Re: Opposition to the Ratification of the Canada–Philippines
Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA)
To the Right Honourable Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada
October 30, 2025
Dear Prime Minister Carney,
As your government prepares to sign the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) with the Philippines on November 2, we, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines–Canada, urge you to halt its ratification. We are a network of church groups, labour unions, and community advocates who have long worked for peace and human rights in the Philippines. This agreement would undermine both.
Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy redirects billions from peacekeeping toward military partnerships. In the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration continues to be marked by extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and mass displacements. Karapatan, a respected human-rights alliance, reports at least 120 extrajudicial killings, 15 enforced disappearances, and hundreds of illegal arrests under Marcos Jr., as of mid-2025.
More than 42,000 people have been displaced by military operations under the government’s Whole-of-Nation Approach. The United Nations and other international monitors have condemned this counterinsurgency campaign for red-tagging activists, journalists, and Indigenous leaders as terrorists.
At the same time, serious corruption allegations have surfaced, including the reported misuse of public funds in flood-control projects and in anti-insurgency programs under the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) Barangay Development Fund. These are funds meant for poor and rural communities.
Recent attacks on journalists and human-rights workers continue unabated. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that the Philippines remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for media workers, with over 80 unsolved killings in the past three decades. Partnering with a government that persecutes its own citizens undermines Canada’s commitment to human rights and the rule of law.
The human-rights crisis did not begin with the current administration. Former president Rodrigo Duterte is facing trial before the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity related to his “war on drugs.” Many of the same security and police institutions implicated in those abuses remain in place today, with no meaningful accountability or reform.
Proceeding with this agreement now would risk involving Canadian troops and resources in operations already tainted by corruption, impunity, and abuse. It would also conflict with Canada’s Voices at Risk guidelines and our stated commitment to transparency and accountability. It also contradicts Canada’s own Feminist International Assistance Policy and the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Magnitsky Law), both of which commit our government to advancing gender equality, human rights, and accountability abroad.
Although described as a framework for humanitarian aid and disaster response, SOVFA appears patterned on earlier foreign-troop agreements in the Philippines, such as the United States Visiting Forces Agreement and related arrangements, which have been linked to environmental damage, jurisdictional problems, and cases of sexual violence involving foreign personnel. The unfolding of massive corruption in flood control projects and implicating top level government officials and legislators raises very serious concerns about the Philippine government’s accountability for the resources that Canada will invest in the defense cooperation programs.
Behind the language of cooperation, the result in the Philippines has often been greater military reach, weaker civilian oversight, and the diversion of public funds away from basic social needs. For Canada, moving ahead now would signal alignment with United States security objectives in the South China Sea and complement AUKUS and QUAD strategies that deepen regional militarization. This would limit Canada’s capacity to act as an independent voice for peace and human rights.
This agreement also coincides with Canada’s growing promotion of its defense industry, including through CANSEC, the country’s largest arms and security trade show. Events like CANSEC link military partnerships abroad with commercial interests at home. SOVFA risks entangling Canada’s humanitarian image with the export of weapons, surveillance systems, and military technologies used in conflict zones and counterinsurgency operations.
Equally troubling is the lack of transparency surrounding this agreement. Documents released through Access to Information requests have been so heavily redacted that neither Parliament nor the Canadian public can properly assess SOVFA’s human-rights, governance, or legal implications. This secrecy falls short of Canada’s own standards for openness and democratic accountability. Moreover, SOVFA bypasses the Philippine Senate by being treated as an executive agreement, raising serious questions about its constitutional validity and democratic legitimacy within the Philippines.
The timing of this agreement is also concerning. The Philippines is experiencing heightened political tension between the president and the vice president, particularly in the wake of the ICC proceedings against Mr. Duterte. Entering into a new military pact at this moment risks legitimizing a government preoccupied with internal power struggles and unable to guarantee transparency, civilian control, or accountability in security operations.
Mr. Prime Minister, SOVFA will not make Canadians or Filipinos safer. It will deepen militarization, expose Canada to the consequences of corruption in security programs, and link our country to a government that has yet to show credible progress on human rights. We urge your government to defer ratification until a full public and parliamentary review can be conducted, to include an assessment of human-rights, corruption, and arms-trade risks in all military engagements with the Philippines. We also urge that Canada redirect resources toward peace-building, climate resilience, and support for human-rights defenders.
This is a defining moment for Canada’s foreign policy. Our country’s strength has never rested on military posture alone. It has rested on the moral clarity of our choices. We ask you to stand by Canada’s tradition of peace, justice, and democracy by declining to ratify SOVFA at this time and by reaffirming a foreign policy rooted in transparency, accountability, and human rights.
We stand ready to meet with your office and provide documentation from Philippine human-rights partners and international monitors.
Sincerely,
Luthfi Mawarid,
Chairperson
ICHRP Canada
Copy furnished:
The Honourable Anita Anand
Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Honourable Steven MacKinnon
Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
The Honourable David J. McGuinty
Minister of National Defence
The Honourable Maninder Sidhu
Minister of International Trade
David Hartman
Ambassador of Canada to the Philippines
Jose Victor V. Chan-Gonzaga
Ambassador of Philippines to Canada