KARAPATAN joined indigenous peoples rights activists in calling for the release of Lumad leader Michelle Campos and three others arrested on March 5, 2025.
Campos and her companions Aldren Baguio, Jun Rey Misoles and Rovelyn Acevido were arrested in Barangay Das-agan, San Francisco, Agusan del Sur and are currently being held under heavy military guard at the Democrito O. Plaza Memorial Hospital in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur where they received treatment for various injuries. The whereabouts of another Lumad leader, Genasque Enriquez, who was reportedly arrested on March 2, 2025, remain unknown.
A fact-finding and humanitarian mission dispatched by Katribu (Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan) and Karapatan from March 10-12, 2025 was able to ascertain that Campos faces at least seven trumped-up cases ranging from frustrated murder to murder. “All of the warrants for these cases were served on Campos after she had been at the hospital for five days already,” said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay. “No warrants were presented to her or her companions upon their arrest.”
“Despite these cases already pending in civilian courts against Campos, she is still under military custody. The constant presence of soldiers and military agents nearby prevented members of the fact-finding and humanitarian mission from conducting an in-depth interview of Campos and her companions,” said Palabay. “That is why details of their arrest and the circumstances behind their injuries remain foggy,” she added. “As long as they remain in the hands of the military, they could not speak freely and are vulnerable to harassment and torture.”
Palabay disclosed that even members of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) who had come to check on the detainees were made to wait for an hour outside of the hospital before being let in because their visit allegedly had to be cleared first with the provincial government. “This is a clear violation of the Anti-Torture Law and the Anti-Desaparacido Law that mandate the conduct of unannounced inspections by the CHR.”
Palabay added that with the absence of any cases pending against Campos’ three companions 18 days after their warrantless arrest, they should be released and allowed to be reunited with their families. “As for Michelle Campos, the cases filed against her are all manufactured and meant to discredit her work as a passionate advocate of Lumad rights.”
Michelle is the daughter of Dionel Campos, chair of Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod (Mapasu) who was killed with the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development Inc. (ALCADEV) director Emerito Samarca and Datu Bello Sinzo,a Manobo leader, on September 1, 2015 in what is now known as the Lianga massacre. No perpetrators have been arrested and held accountable
to date for these killings.
Michelle, herself a product of the Lumad schools in Mindanao that had been constantly harassed and attacked even before Duterte’s time, rose to become a Lumad youth leader after her father’s brutal killing. The Lumad schools finally had to close down under Rodrigo Duterte who, in 2018, infamously ordered the military to bomb suspected rebel strongholds and “flatten the hills,” including the Lumad schools that were often located in upland areas.
“We call on all humanitarian organizations, especially those with international mandates, to look into the cases of Michelle Campos and her three companions,” said Palabay. “Their unjust arrest and detention are emblematic of the continuing repression in the Lumad areas amid the encroachment of mining and other big business interests in the Lumad’s ancestral lands.”
*Copies of the Search and Humanitarian Mission Report are available upon request.
*Photos are attached in this email.