On April 19, 2026, ten guerrillas of the New People’s Army (NPA) and nine civilians were massacred by troops of the 79th Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (IBPA) in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental.
The gruesome incident bore all signs of a war crime. A drone footage of Roger Fabillar, an NPA leader who was purportedly captured alive, which circulated online contradicting the AFP’s official line that he was killed in action. In violation of international humanitarian law (IHL), the military used disproportionate and excessive force, failed to undertake measures to avoid or minimize deaths, did not take steps to distinguish armed combatants from unarmed civilians, imposed a day-long media black-out and issued suspiciously conflicting reports on the places of incidence and the number of recovered firearms. The AFP was obviously intent on taking control of the narrative in order to cover up one of the Marcos Jr. regime’s most horrific war crimes to date.
The massacre of the Negros 19 soon dominated the news and galvanized outrage against the intensified military operations in the countryside. On May 21, 2026, the results of a National Fact-Finding and Solidarity Mission (NFFSM) joined by more than a hundred individuals representing various organizations confirmed earlier reports that nine of the 19 massacre victims were civilians. Residents also recounted indiscriminate firing, forced evacuations, drone surveillance, harassment, and restrictions on their livelihoods imposed by state forces before and after the April 19 massacre. The NFFSM delegates assailed the AFP for dismissing the reports of harassment and intimidation in the affected communities and relying on “certifications” from local officials to claim there were supposedly no complaints from residents. They likewise condemned the AFP’s gloating statements of its “victory” and its public release of unfiltered photos of the victims’ mangled and decomposing bodies, calling it dehumanizing and deeply insensitive to the victims and their families.