International Trade committee  It's hard to put that in 10 seconds. We're anticipating not a lot of change. I think the duo of Marcos and Duterte will follow the similar pattern of the outgoing president, if not worse.

International Trade committee  Thank you. The other area that I think needs to be paid attention to is the military industry, the sale of military products to the Philippines. Although Canada's military sales over the last couple of years has been minimal, it's on the rise, particularly as the Philippine government commits itself to a new 15-year improvement.

International Trade committee  Do you want me to answer that, Guy-Lin?

International Trade committee  If I may take this question, it appears in the Philippines currently that it's not the same as we experience here in Canada with the missing indigenous girls and women, but women are affected dramatically through their health issues and poverty issues. Women human rights defenders are arrested and jailed, and most of that comes through the mining issues.

International Trade committee  I can only give you kind of a thumbnail sketch here, because I don't have all the specific details, which we can provide later. Canadian mining companies violate this treaty with the UN by forcible removal of indigenous peoples from their land. The Lumad peoples in Mindanao, who we stayed with for three weeks, had been moved off their land.

International Trade committee  I believe, yes, we need solid legislation to hold these companies accountable. Asking companies to self-regulate is not strong enough, and we know, particularly in the mining industry and other industries, particularly the arms industry, that it does not happen. They are not self-regulating in the way that we need to have happen to protect the environment and the human rights situation in countries like the Philippines.

International Trade committee  Thank you for the invitation to present at this committee this afternoon. The Canadian and Quebec chapters of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines have carried out multiple human rights missions in the north in Luzon and the south in Mindanao among indigenous peoples affected by mining activities.