KARAPATAN condemns in the strongest terms the killing of former Karapatan-SOCSKSARGENDS deputy secretary general and Hustisya-SOCSKSARGENDS secretary general Ali Macalintal, also a former radio broadcaster of RPN XDX. Macalintal was reportedly shot dead yesterday, June 23, 2025, by an unknown assailant. According to reports by local media, Macalintal was shot several times inside by a man in an acupuncture clinic in General Santos City.
As a KARAPATAN human rights defender, Macalintal co-organized and courageously participated in several fact-finding missions in Mindanao, including those at the height of martial law in the island.
A transgender woman and long-time Moro activist, she and two others were wrongfully arrested, tortured and detained in 2002 for the bombing of Fitmart Mall in General Santos City that killed 16 people and wounded many others. It took eight years for the court to determine that the explosives presented by the police as evidence had in fact been planted when their house was raided illegally.
In messages in 2024, Macalintal reported being harassed and under constant surveillance by State agents under Task Force Gensan. Macalintal feared for her life and safety because the agents had also reportedly gone to a cousin and neighbor of hers to inquire about herwhereabouts. She had confided to colleagues that when she sought an audience with the task force, she was being pressured to sign a document, which she refused to do. The harassment continued until it apparently culminated in her extrajudicial killing.
Macalintal had reportedly named a Ssgt. Makoy Manalo, Ssgt. Pandian, Ssgt. Toledo and Ssgt. Bong Dionisio as among the State agents who have been harassing her. She said that her family should hold these soldiers as well as Task Force Gensan accountable should anything untoward happen to her.
KARAPATAN demands that the killing of Macalintal be investigated immediately and the perpetrators brought to justice. We fervently hope that Ali Macalintal’s killing will not go the way of other extrajudicial killings of activists that were never resolved because of the culture of impunity prevailing in this country.
End impunity!
Justice for Ali Macalintal and all other victims of extrajudicial killing!