Bayan Muna Southern Mindanao

Tanong-sagot hinggil sa impeachment

Isang Mapagpalang Eid al-Adha sa ating mga kapatid na Muslim!

​Kaisa ang BAYAN MUNA sa paggunita ng Kapistahan ng Pag-aalay. Nawa'y ang diwa ng pananampalataya, pagmamalasakit sa kapwa, at walang pag-iimbot na sakripisyo ay magsilbing liwanag at inspirasyon sa atin upang patuloy na maglingkod at magkaisa para sa mas makatarungang lipunan.

​Eid Mubarak!

Lawyers representing the victims of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war are undaunted by his new legal team, saying their “strong evidence” against him will make it hard for the defense to win, no matter how brilliant they may be.

Drug war victims’ lawyers unfazed by Duterte’s new legal team FIGHT GOES ON: The families of the drug victims hold a “watch party” in Quezon City on Wednesday for the ruling on the defense team’s appeal that questioned the jurisdiction of the ICC over the

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate on DOJ order to arrest Bato:

The warning, "You can run, you can hide, but the long arm of justice will eventually catch you," is no longer just a rhetorical phrase—it is a looming rock-solid reality.

The Senate can no longer serve as a bureaucratic bunker to evade charges of crimes against humanity, providing a hard-fought vindication for the thousands of victims and families who have spent years demanding justice.

The ultimate test now lies with the Marcos Jr. administration's PNP and NBI. Their handling of this directive will determine whether our law enforcement agencies choose to uphold the rule of law and justice with professional impartiality, or whether institutional loyalties will be used to prolong a futile evasion of history's reckoning.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate:

The Supreme Court’s refusal to grant a TRO is a certainly a major setback for the Duterte-era architects of the drug war. It serves notice that the 1987 Constitution's Bill of Rights cannot be easily weaponized as a jurisdictional shelter when domestic laws, like RA 9851, and global obligations, like with the ICC, intersect. The enforcement of international justice, for now, faces no constitutional roadblock from the highest court.

Bayan Muna: Rejection of US bid to turn AI hub into US territory exposes scheme's real purpose—military dominance and resource plunder

Former Bayan Muna Party-list Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate today warned that the Philippine government's rejection of the United States' proposal to place the planned 1,619-hectare "Pax Silica" artificial intelligence hub in New Clark City under American law—while granting diplomatic immunity to US personnel assigned there—exposes the true military nature of the project.

"This so-called US 'AI initiative' is really a thinly disguised bid to secure a forward military-industrial platform for war production and to plunder the country's strategic mineral resources, not to foster genuine technological development," Zarate said.
"The US wanted to carve out a piece of Philippine territory where Philippine laws simply would not apply—a state within a state. Had our government granted that, the flag and constitution we honor would be meaningless inside those 4,000 acres," Zarate added. "The fact that they even dared to ask for such sweeping extraterritorial privileges reveals their true colors: Pax Silica is not about economic development, but about securing a military beachhead to counter China."

On May 18, during his visit to the proposed site, US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg pressed for unprecedented legal protections that would effectively remove the hub from Philippine jurisdiction. Under the rejected scheme, the facility would have been designated as diplomatic property—similar to an embassy—operating under US common law with protections analogous to diplomatic immunity, a concept typically reserved for foreign missions under the Vienna Convention, not commercial industrial zones.

Zarate stressed that this rejection should be the beginning—not the end—of public scrutiny.
"Why was this secret proposal even on the table in the first place? What other backdoor deals are being negotiated behind closed doors? The fact that the US demanded such sweeping powers shows they see the Philippines not as a partner, but as a colony—a place where their corporations can operate above our Constitution," Zarate said.

Furthermore, Zarate pointed out that the Pax Silica project is not intended to build factories for consumer gadgets. "This is about positioning the Philippines as a key node in America's war machine in the Asia-Pacific region. The legal overreach they demanded—Philippine territory under US law—would have meant that US personnel and corporations operating there could commit crimes against our people with impunity. Is this the kind of 'partnership' we want?" Zarate warned.

"The US is not here to help us industrialize. They are here to strip our resources, lock us into dependency, and use our land as a forward staging ground for their geopolitical war against China. The Philippine government must reject the entire Pax Silica framework, not just its most egregious legal provisions," Zarate insisted.

"Huwag nating hintayin na maging huli ang lahat. We should expose every document, every agreement, and every backroom deal that the US has forced upon our government," Zarate said.
Pax Silica is a US Department of State flagship program launched in December 2025. The Philippines joined as the 13th signatory on April 16, 2026. The proposed 1,619-hectare industrial hub in New Clark City—located within the US-backed Luzon Economic Corridor—would be the first "AI-native industrial acceleration hub" under the initiative.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate today said that the Senate's "protective custody" that apparently enabled Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa to evade being arrested is a "political maneuver that only strengthen the case for international justice mechanisms like the International Criminal Court (ICC)."

“The protective escape granted to Senator Dela Rosa—wanted for crimes against humanity—proves exactly why the ICC remains crucial,” Zarate said. “When people of power and influence can easily be shielded from facing justice in our domestic arena, international accountability becomes not an option, but a necessity.”

Zarate questioned how victims of the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs could ever expect justice when the very institutions meant to protect them instead bend to political convenience.

“The message is clear: if you have power, you get protection. If you are a poor victim, you get nothing,” he added. “This is precisely why the ICC must step in—because justice cannot be left to a system that fails its own people for the sake of political alliances.”

Zarate also directly challenged the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to implement the ICC-issued warrant without condition or political convenience. “Do not wait for political alignment or convenience. Enforce it—without conditions, without favor,” he stressed.