Neoliberalism and state terrorism in the Philippines: the fingerprints of Phoenix

The Never Ending War in the Wounded Land: The New People’s Army on Samar

“…The counter-insurgency program of the Philippine Army on Samar has given the island a reputation as a "killing field" as a result of "killings, massacres, mass evacuations, military abuses, torture, and illegal detentions" (Carceller, 2000, p. 81). An important dimension of how abusive the AFP has been in its campaign against the NPA is the wave of extrajudicial killings plaguing the archipelago since 2001, wherein people who are suspected of being supporters of the NPA are assassinated by the AFP (Holden, 2011). This program of selective assassinations is modeled upon the Phoenix Program implemented by the United States during the American War in Vietnam (Holden, 2011).…”

“…An important dimension of how abusive the AFP has been in its campaign against the NPA is the wave of extrajudicial killings plaguing the archipelago since 2001, wherein people who are suspected of being supporters of the NPA are assassinated by the AFP (Holden, 2011). This program of selective assassinations is modeled upon the Phoenix Program implemented by the United States during the American War in Vietnam (Holden, 2011). Phoenix was a calculated attempt to degrade the political infrastructure of the Viet Cong and it was described by Kalyvas (2006, p. 169) as "one of the most sophisticated programs of selective violence".…”

“…Phoenix was a calculated attempt to degrade the political infrastructure of the Viet Cong and it was described by Kalyvas (2006, p. 169) as "one of the most sophisticated programs of selective violence". Just as the Phoenix Program was designed to eradicate the political infrastructure of the Viet Cong, these extrajudicial killings have been a deliberate attempt to eradicate the political infrastructure of the NPA (Holden, 2011).…”

The Samar Counterinsurgency Campaign of 1899-1902: Lessons Worth Learning?

“…After Vietnam, the United States institutionalized the tenets of Phoenix within its counterinsurgency doctrine (Holden, 2009(Holden, , 2011. The United States Army Command and General Staff College (1986) Field Circular: Low Intensity Conflict stated, a major consideration of counterinsurgency warfare is "neutralizing the insurgent leadership and the insurgent organization."…”

“…However, according to McCoy (2009), when such doctrine has been provided by American military advisers to the armed forces of their client states in the developing world, words such as "neutralize" become "words that repressive third world militaries could readily construe as a recommendation for selective assassination." Consequently, this emphasis upon "neutralizing insurgent infrastructure" has been a contributing factor to human rights abuses in the Philippines where the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have been trained by American military advisers (Holden, 2009(Holden, , 2011McCoy, 1999McCoy, , 2009).…”