• CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
Multi-sectoral groups involved in an initial fact-finding mission in Sitio Sinugmawan and Sitio Plaromding, Toboso, Negros Occidental, condemned the alleged April 19 encounter that led to the death of 19 suspected rebels and called for an investigation on human rights violations in Congress.
ACT Teachers Partylist Antonio Tinio, during a conference in Bacolod City yesterday, said they have filed a House Resolution condemning the act and seeking an investigation on the matter.
Tinio said they condemn all serious violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes based on the findings of the fact-finding mission, and demand that officials of the military and the soldiers involved be held accountable.
They are also calling for the resumption of a genuine peace process, he said.
A national fact-finding and solidarity mission (NFSM) composed of over a hundred rights workers, Makabayan lawmakers, activists, church workers, youth leaders, and journalists found the Philippine military liable for terrorizing farming communities in Negros Occidental, following the bloody massacre in Toboso on April 19, based on a press statement issued to the media yesterday.
The mission confirms, through witness testimonies, that six of the massacre victims were known civilians, including peasant advocates and peasant organizers, directly contradicting the military’s narrative that all those killed were combatants.
Through documented eyewitness testimonies, the mission further confirmed that soldiers committed multiple violations against civilians, including the forcible use of civilian homes as military encampments, harassment, and intimidation of residents in the name of counter-insurgency, restrictions on farming activities, indiscriminate firing near homes, illegal detention, and even the alleged use of a farmer as a human shield.
Members of the mission themselves said they have experienced various forms of harassment during the conduct of the investigation.
The mission strongly condemns these deplorable acts, alongside the military’s continued denial of massacring non-combatants. Acts that terrorize and endanger civilians constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Convention.
The mission called for accountability from the AFP, an end to the militarization in Negros, and justice for all victims of the Negros 19.
Meanwhile, Bishop Gerardo Alminaza said that “As the Church, we reject violence from all sides. We reject the taking of innocent lives, the culture of fear, and the reduction of human beings into mere statistics or propaganda tools…..Our people deserve more than competing claims. They deserve the truth. They deserve justice. They deserve development rooted in human dignity. They deserve a future where peace is built not through intimidation or silence, but through dialogue, accountability, solidarity, and inclusive social transformation.”
The challenge before us is not simply to end armed encounters, but to heal broken relationships, repair damaged institutions, and address the root causes that continue to drive conflict generation after generation, he said.
As we continue our journey as a “Church of the WE,” may we become courageous builders of what Pope Leo XIV calls an “unarmed and disarming peace”—a peace grounded not in domination, but in truth, compassion, justice, and our shared humanity, the bishop said.
“We call on all sectors—government, security forces, civil society, local leaders, faith communities, human rights advocates, and armed groups—to place the dignity of the human person above ideology, politics, or power,” he added.*
