KARAPATAN condemns the imposition of de facto martial rule in the hinterlands of Mindoro and Samar that have resulted in grave human rights violations, violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and serious disruptions in the local residents’ lives and livelihoods.
“We call on the Commission of Human Rights (CHR) to look into these violations engendered by escalating militarization with the same zeal it demonstrated in its investigation of red-tagging incidents nationwide,” said Karapatan deputy secretary general Atty. Maria Sol Taule.
Taule cited an incident in Barangay Sto. Niño, Paranas, Samar, where local residents Renato Gabac and his son Reymart were shot dead by soldiers from the 87th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA). The Gabacs were on the way to their farm at around 8 in the morning of February 10, 2025 to tend to their carabao. The soldiers reportedly vent their ire on the Gabacs after suffering casualties in encounters with the New People’s Army (NPA) on February 1 and 5. Ending up empty-handed from the February 5 firefight, the military unleashed 17 mortar rounds in the vicinity of the encounter site in hopes of hitting the guerrillas.
As usual, the military claimed that the Gabacs were NPA members killed in a gunbattle to cover up their crime. But photographs taken of the victims’ bodies showed that all they were carrying were their bolos.
More recently, the village of Tagumpay in Pola, Oriental Mindoro has reportedly been under virtual martial law since February 19, 2025, after an alleged encounter between the 76th IBPA and the NPA in the barangay’s upland areas which are home to Mangyan tribespeople. Two helicopter gunships of the AFP were seen circling the hills at around 11:45 am and strafing the area. The affected Mangyan communities were forcibly evacuated, with soldiers rummaging from house to house purportedly to verify the identities of residents.
As a result of the military operations, residents are running short on food because they have been prevented from going to their upland farms to harvest bananas and make copra. The disruption of their agricultural activities due to intensified militarization is compounding the problems of Pola’s residents, who were among those whose incomes from fishing have been greatly reduced after being hard-hit by the oil spill resulting from the sinking of the MT Princess Empress in 2023. The residents complained that despite being barred from their farms, they have not even been provided relief goods by the local government to tide them over.
The soldiers have also been encamping in schools, even if there are evacuees staying there, a clear violation of IHL which prohibits the endangerment of civilians during armed conflict. This and the intermittent strafing near their houses have terrified and traumatized the children.
As of the latest reports, the military operations have spilled over to the nearby village of Misong, where all the residents have been ordered to evacuate. The villagers fear this is a prelude to bombing the area, ruining their farms and crops.
Out of fear, civilian government authorities in the villages and municipality have refused to take the cudgels for the affected villagers, and have, in fact, been taking orders from the military since the soldiers arrived. Following the military’s directions, they have been hounding a fact-finding and humanitarian mission dispatched by Karapatan-Southern Tagalog to look into the local residents’ conditions, and warned villagers that they would face charges if they entertained questions from the team and provided them accommodations. Despite these threats, however, the villagers have been supplying the Karapatan mission from Southern Tagalog with ample information on their plight.
“Karapatan will continue to closely monitor the situation in Samar, Mindoro and other areas that suffer from intense militarization and escalating human rights violations and violations of IHL,” said Taule, “and campaign vigorously to put a stop to such atrocities. We renew our call to the CHR to delve deeply into the real situation in these areas and hopefully come up with mechanisms to prevent violations and alleviate the suffering of the people.”