Rights group KARAPATAN called for an urgent independent investigation on the latest incidents of aerial bombings and indiscriminate firing by State security forces in the island of Panay, following reports of the same incidents of bombings in other regions under the Marcos Jr. government.
“That these intense military operations are being carried out on International Humanitarian Law month, at the same time that Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. brags about being a champion of human rights, speaks of the deceitful governance and fascist character of his administration. We demand for an independent investigation on these bombings, and a halt to these State-sponsored acts of terrorism,” said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay.
According to Panay Alliance – Karapatan, they have received reports from residents and media sources of indiscriminate firing by elements of the Philippine Army forces in its military operations in Tapaz, Capiz. The incident involved heavy artillery fire near civilian communities.
“Community members confirmed hearing drones and helicopters circling as early as 2:30 AM on August 22, 2025, followed by successive artillery fire and bomb-like explosions at dawn. Some households were forced to evacuate in fear for their lives,” said Panay Alliance – Karapatan.
Panay Alliance- Karapatan added that these actions inflict terror, and displace and endanger civilians, including farmers and indigenous Tumandok communities. “We condemn the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ heavy military bombardment and militarization of rural communities in Tapaz, Capiz. These are blatant violations of international humanitarian law,” said Palabay.
Karapatan has earlier condemned the series of military operations in Occidental Mindoro and Quezon that have caused civilian deaths and terrorized rural communities.
On August 1, in Sitio Salidang, Barangay Naibuan, San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, Juan Sumilhig, a farmer and former political prisoner, was brutally killed by elements of the 4th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA). The military falsely claimed that Sumilhig, an unarmed civilian, was killed in an encounter between the military and the NPA.
In Barangay Maguibay, Tagkawayan, Quezon, from August 2 to 3, the 16th IBPA also strafed, shelled and conducted aerial bombings twice, spreading fear among the residents, who could not engage in their farming and copra making activities.
“The military’s record in its attacks that target civilians and civilian communities, on mere suspicion and accusation that they support the armed revolutionary forces, and thereby justifying bombarding communities and destroying their livelihood, are all part of the Marcos Jr. government’s blueprint of its so-called National Action Plan on Unity, Peace and Development. It is a complete plan for fascist terror against the people,” Palabay said.
In a previous statement, KARAPATAN said that previous counterinsurgency programs and the NAP-UPD deliberately blur the distinction between civilians and combatants in the government’s civil war against the Communist Party of the Philippines, and thus, red-tagging and other forms of violations of human rights and IHL have been repeatedly perpetrated with impunity by State security forces.
KARAPATAN called on rights advocates to condemn the attacks and violations of IHL, and call for a halt to intensified military operations in communities.