On April 30, the US State Department announced two pending arms sales to the Philippines totaling nearly $2 billion. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Bell Textron, and General Electric are the main weapons manufacturers contracted to profit from the deal.

Following the announcement, a thirty-day window for Congress to review and voice opposition to the sale commenced. It is imperative that we stop this avalanche of military aid for Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s regime.

Duterte’s human rights record is atrocious. If the arms sale goes through, it will escalate a worsening crackdown on human rights defenders and on dissent — while worsening an ongoing bloodbath. Duterte is infamous for launching a “War on Drugs” that since 2016 has claimed the lives of as many as twenty-seven thousand, mostly low-income people, summarily executed by police and vigilantes.