KARAPATAN condemns the latest reported incidents of repression in Ilocos Norte and Agusan del Sur, and called upon the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to conduct a thorough investigation.
In the span of a day, three individuals were forcibly taken by military elements with the whereabouts of two of them still unknown.
On the night of August 11, 2025, two indigenous farmers, Belmar Garvida and Ferdinand Bangngad, were arrested without warrant by suspected elements of the 102nd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) in Sitio Salicsic, Barangay Dampig, Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte. Garvida was later returned to the village, but Bangngad remains missing as of this writing.
According to the Ilocos Human Rights Alliance, both Garvida and Bangngad had long been subjected to surveillance, harassment and intimidation by the military and police. They and other residents in the area are strongly opposed to the construction of the Cabacanan dam which they fear will be detrimental to the environment. Residents of the area are being pressured by the National Irrigation Administration to give their consent to the construction of the dam.
In Agusan del Sur, political prisoner Grace Man-aning was forcibly taken from the Agusan del Sur Provincial Jail by elements of the 60th IBPA at noon of August 11, 2025 after a court reportedly issued an order to transfer her to military custody. The transfer was reportedly requested by both the 60th IB and the Agusan del Sur Provincial Jail which claimed that it did not have the facilities to securely detain her. Man-aning’s actual whereabouts after being taken by the military have yet to be verified as of this writing.
“Man-aning’s transfer to military detention after a civilian court had already taken custody of her raises questions not only on whether the supremacy of civilian authority over the military actually exists in the countryside,” said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay. “It also raises issues about Man-aning’s safety and security, as she will likely be subjected to relentless interrogation and psycholgical torture to the point of ‘surrendering’.”
Man-aning was one of eight individuals arrested in Bunawan, Agusan del Sur on June 13, 2025. Arrested with Man-aning were Charisse Bañez, Ronnie Igloria, Louvaine Erika Espina, Sinag Lugsi, Larry Montero, Daryl Man-Inday, Arjie Guino Dadizon and Leo Taba. They are collectively known as the “Bunawan 8.” Taba was disappeared from the Bunawan Municipal Police Station where they were first brought and remains missing. Two others—Sinag Lugsi and Daryl Man-inday—had reportedly been forced to surrender after relentlessly being subjected to coercive tactics,
“We urge the CHR to investigate the plight of political prisoners who are constantly harassed and threatened with reprisal, including being threatened that their families would be killed if they refuse to cooperate with the military. And this is no doubt being done upon the instigation of the National Task Force to End Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC),” said Palabay. “This systemic pattern of repression against political prisoners must stop.”