Toboso killings, the result of Philippine military’s indiscriminate attack against the NPA
Several civilians, including two minors, are among the 19 people killed in the province of Negros Occidental during an operation by the 79th Infantry Battalion. The carnage highlights how activists and community workers are caught up in the war against the communist New People's Army. This comes at the time the Philippines holds the rotating presidency of Association of Southeast Asian Nations. For the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, the latest incident “violates international humanitarian law”.
Manila (AsiaNews) – The killing on 19 April of 19 people in Toboso, in the central Philippine province of Negros Occidental, during a military operation involving the 79th Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, has raised great concern in the Philippines and brought renewed attention to a situation that many thought was a thing of the past but which periodically resurfaces.
Nine victims were likely civilians but were deemed by the military as members of the New People's Army, the armed wing of the long-outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines. They include journalist RJ Nichole Ledesma, students Alyssa Alano and Maureen Keil Santuyo, both enrolled at the University of the Philippines' Diliman campus, researcher Errol Wendel Chen, dual Filipino-American activists Kai Dana-Rene Sorem and Lyle Prijoles, and Toboso resident Roel Sabillo.
Two more victims were reportedly underage, but their identities have not been made public, probably because the bodies are likely unidentifiable.
According to Mercy Christy Barends, a member of the Indonesian House of Representatives and chairperson of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), the attack was "An operation that cannot distinguish between armed combatants and community workers", constituting “an indiscriminate attack that violates international humanitarian law”.
For the group, the Armed Forces of the Philippines must be held accountable, a demand that stems from a practice, justified in various ways, involving regular troops, who often target not only armed militants, but also humanitarian workers and human rights activists simply because they oppose the ways economic and political power is exercised.
Ledesma, 30, was the regional coordinator of AlterMidya (People’s Alternative Media), a network of independent and progressive media outlets and groups. The latter reported that the journalist was killed in Sitio Plariding, not in Toboso, during a pursuit operation.
Alano was a member of the student council at her university and was active in supporting farmers' causes on the island of Negros. Santuyo and Chen were farmers and activists, committed to raising awareness of the conditions of sugarcane plantation workers. Prijoles was engaged in community immersion when the military operation occurred.
The Philippine military claim that all 19 people killed were NPA members, and that the seizure of firearms confirms this.
Nevertheless, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) announced a probe into the Toboso incident, saying that “in case of doubt, persons shall be presumed civilians.”
For its part, APHR is scathing about the military’s action. It noted that the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 allows warrantless arrests and detention without charge, adding that the law “has been weaponized against journalists, activists, and community workers”, slamming the Philippine military’s “blanket labeling of all 19 victims as NPA members fits this pattern.”
The situation created by the military operation comes at a time when the Philippines holds ASEAN’s rotating presidency. In light of such an event, respect for life, civil liberties, and human rights are even more necessary, as is the need to fight targeted and widespread violence.
The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility notes that 156 journalists have been killed in the Philippines since 1986, and Reporters Without Borders last year ranked the Southeast Asian country 116th out of 180 in its World Press Freedom Index.
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21/04/2023
