“License to Kill”

Duterte responded: “Why are you shooting the black people when they are on the ground?
[You] can do it, but we can’t? … Do not pretend to be the moral conscience of the world.” 322
The US Embassy in Manila announced on December 14 that the US government would deny
the Philippines government a new Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant due to
“significant concerns around rule of law and civil liberties in the Philippines.” 323 The
statement alluded to the government’s full-scale assault on basic rights by specifying that
criteria for MCC aid recipients “includes not just a passing scorecard but also a
demonstrated commitment to the rule of law, due process and respect for human rights.”
The grant denial constitutes a significant loss to the Duterte government. The MCC
disbursed $434 million to the Philippines from 2011 to 2016 and the decision to deny
additional funding to the Philippines appears to scuttle a second five-year funding grant
likely targeted at large-scale infrastructure projects that the MCC had agreed to in
December 2015. 324
US suspension of security assistance to the Philippine police has not affected its
assistance to the armed forces. In November, the State Department announced that the $5
million of assistance earmarked for law enforcement assistance in the $180 million 2017
fiscal assistance program would be shifted, with $4.5 million going to maritime law
enforcement, and the remaining money to human rights training and internal reform
efforts. According to then-State Department spokesperson John Kirby:
Since the start of the drug campaign, our law enforcement assistance has
been refocused away from narcotics control to supporting maritime security
efforts and to providing human rights training to the Philippine National
322 “Duterte to US senators: ‘Do not interfere in PH affairs,’” Rappler, September 30, 2016,
http://www.rappler.com/nation/147765-duterte-us-senators-do-not-interfere.
323 “US says aid package to the Philippines withheld over rights concerns,” Agence France-Presse, December 15, 2016,
https://globalnation.inquirer.net/150707/us-says-aid-package-philippines-withheld-rights-concerns. The MCC is a US
government foreign aid agency dedicated to poverty relief through funding to health, infrastructure, energy, and other
sectors. See, “About MCC,” Millenium Challenge Corporation, https://www.mcc.gov/about.
324 Naki B. Mendoza, “The early agenda for MCC’s second Philippine compact,” Devex, July 19, 2016,
https://www.devex.com/news/the-early-agenda-for-the-mcc-s-second-philippine-compact-88441.
99 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MARCH 2017