A national fact-finding and solidarity mission (NFSM) composed of more than a hundred human 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.
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 encampment, harassment and intimidation of residents in the name of counter-insurgency operations, restriction 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 experienced various forms of harassment during the conduct of the investigation. Delegates reported being tailed by a suspicious individual on a motorcycle who was seen taking photographs of the convoy’s vehicles. During a courtesy call at the Barangay Hall of Barangay Salamanca, around five unidentified individuals were also observed openly photographing the delegates, raising serious concerns over surveillance and intimidation aimed at obstructing independent human rights documentation efforts. Residents likewise reported the presence of the 79th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in the area days prior to the mission.
Meanwhile, Sadie Stone, an American pastor and member of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP), was disallowed entry in the Philippines for being blacklisted allegedly for participating in “political activities” in 2016. Stone was supposed to join the National Fact-Finding and Solidarity Mission.
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 Conventions.
The mission calls for accountability from the AFP, an end to the militarization in Negros, and justice for all victims in the Negros 19 massacre.