An Ordinary Person

Lobbying Congress: When Ordinary Folks Appeal to the System

I have had my first extensive exposure to grass roots legislative advocacy these past few weeks. I am working with human rights group, Katarungan to find a way to influence U.S. Congress members to attach human rights preconditions to a Congressional Appropriations bill that involves millions of dollars in military and other aid to the Philippines. In simple terms, we want Congress to put human rights conditions on money earmarked for the Philippine government, particularly military aid.

Why We Are Doing This

Katarungan is a Washington, DC-based Filipino-American grassroots organization. It seeks to address human rights violations in the Philippines through public education and lobbying the U.S. Congress.

Since 2001, Philippine human rights organizations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the United Nations have documented hundreds of cases of extra-judicial killings, disappearances and torture in the Philippines. These reports tie these violations to elements of the Philippine military–one of the largest recipients of U.S. military aid in the world.

The Legislation in Question

Just this past week, I received word from our network of Congressional observers that the budget for FY2009 (Fiscal Year 2009) contains $30 million dollars for US aid to the Philippines with only $2 million set with human rights preconditions.

Here’s the actual language in Sec 774 of S3288

S.3288: Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2009 (Placed on Calendar in Senate)

PHILIPPINES

SEC. 774. Of the funds appropriated by this Act under the heading `Foreign Military Financing Program’, not to exceed $30,000,000 may be made available for assistance for the Philippines, of which $2,000,000 may not be obligated until the Secretary of State reports in writing to the Committees on Appropriations that–

(1) the Government of the Philippines is implementing the recommendations of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions;

(2) the Government of the Philippines is implementing a policy of promoting military personnel who demonstrate professionalism and respect for human rights, and is investigating and prosecuting military personnel and others who have been credibly alleged to have violated human rights; and

(3) the Philippine Armed Forces is not engaging in acts of intimidation or violence against members of legal organizations who advocate for human rights.

This bill will not likely be voted on until January 2009 so there is some time us to try and influence it. Here are some observations:

Implications: The Good

That they actually have the human rights language at all in the bill is a victory of sorts

Implications: The Bad

(1) The preconditions are attached only to a small amount in the total spending bill. This seems like the preconditions were just tacked on as an afterthought to head off any Public Relations problems in the future. So they can say “oh we placed the human rights language there” if they were ever challenged.

(2) It appears the Philippine Government has powerful allies in the U.S. Congress. We got word that some members of the Senate wanted to do away with tacking on the human rights language altogether. In addition, total amount earmarked is double of what the State Department is actually requesting ($15 million).

As activists, therefore, the job of Katarungan is to find a way to influence Congress to either (a) increase the amount of Philippine aid with human rights preconditions, or (b) put the human rights conditions on the entire amount.

Can Ordinary People Influence Congress?

(1) How do we go about influencing Congress? We are just a bunch of concerned, ordinary folks with no lobbying experience or a professional lobbying firm representing us. Note that the Philippine government has a professional lobbying firm representing its interests in the US Congress. We don’t have large-scale funding and manpower that can get the attention of Congress members the way professional lobbyists and large corporate and other interests with deep pockets can.

(2) As US citizens and taxpayers, there has to be some sort of ready mechanism for ordinary people like us to tell and influence our lawmakers that we disagree with how they are spending our tax dollars. Especially because we do not want our tax dollars to go towards rewarding human rights violations overseas. In this case, we are finding trying to work “within the system” to be a frustrating process akin to navigating a complicated labyrinth or maze of schedules, contacts, regulations, and procedures.

Final Thoughts

Despite the challenges, the best bet is still to go through the traditional means of lobbying Congress and influencing their decisions-through writing letters, calling Congressional offices, and perhaps if we are lucky enough, making presentations face to face with Congressional members and their staff.

A big challenge we face is mobilizing the Filipino-American community to support our goals. Our case is much stronger with the Filipino-American community behind our efforts. Another important audience are human rights and religious groups for whom the issue of human rights hits close to home as many of the targets of the political violence in the Philippines have been church-based people and groups. These two articles (article 1 and article 2) illustrate how the issue is gaining momentum within the religious community.

There are no guarantees that Congress members will even read, let alone, be influenced by our letters and other efforts. We are doing this as our best shot in using the available legitimate and “official” routes to pushing for social change. If we succeed, it would be a testament to the efforts and persistence among our group of volunteers more than anything else. Our argument is essentially, a moral one. We shall see by how our efforts pan out if such a strategy can still have resonance.

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