KARAPATAN condemns the abduction and disappearance of an entire peasant family in Sorsogon after a combined team of policemen and elements of the 31st Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) picked them up on the night of April 17, 2025. It likewise condemns the illegal arrest by elements of the 2nd IBPA of a Masbate farmer also on April 17, on false accusations that he is a member of the New People’s Army (NPA).
In Sorsogon, the policemen and soldiers came to arrest Gilberto Tolentino, 50, a member of the Sorsogon People’s Organization, at his house in Barangay San Vicente, Donsol town. His wife Amelia, 47, and his daughter Regine, 21 decided to accompany him, worrying what might happen to Tolentino. Regine also brought along her two-year old child.
Since they were taken, however, efforts by Tolentino’s relatives and barangay officials from San Vicente to locate the family have been in vain. Both the Donsol police station and the nearest military camp in Barangay San Jose have denied having the family in custody.
Meanwhile, in Masbate, soldiers seized Isabel delos Reyes, 56, a farmer and resident of Barangay Libertad, Cawayan town. Delos Reyes was taken after an armed encounter occurred between the 2nd IBPA and the NPA at the boundary of Barangay Miabas, Palanas town and Barangay Libertad.
To portray Delos Reyes as an armed rebel, he was coerced to be photographed carrying a firearm and forced to say that the NPA was in the area to “extort” local candidates in the May 2025 elections.
The 2nd IBPA also further terrorized the residents affected by the armed encounter by indiscriminately firing their guns even after their enemy had long retreated. The residents were not allowed to evacuate and were interrogated instead.
We call on the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to investigate the abduction and forcible disappearance of the Tolentino family, especially since among the missing is a two-year old child. We also urge the CHR to look into Isabel delos Reyes’ questionable arrest. We join other human rights defenders in demanding that the Tolentino family be surfaced and safe and sound, and that Delos Reyes be released and those who violated their rights held accountable.