24/04/2026
STATEMENT
April 24, 2026
Justice for Negros 19! End militarization in Negros!
Migrante International vehemently condemns the recent massacre of 19 individuals and the forced displacement of more than 650 residents in Toboso, Negros Occidental during the AFP's military operations that began on Sunday, April 19.
Given the AFP's bloody track record, we outright reject their account of portraying the incident as a legitimate armed encounter with members of the New People's Army. Reports from media, community organizations and human rights advocates demonstrate that farmers and innocent civilians who were participating or documenting peasant activities were among those who were killed. Among the victims were: Alyssa Alano, a University of the Philippines student leader, RJ Nichole Ledesma, a Negros-based journalist, Errol Wendel, a community researcher and Maureen Santuyo, a peasant organizer. All of them dedicated their lives serving the most marginalized in our country.
The recent killings in Toboso reflect the systematic pattern and intensification of state repression and militarization in the island of Negros and nationwide. Karapatan, a human rights organization, has documented at least 52 individuals killed in Negros from July 2022 to December 2025 under the Marcos Jr. administration.
Peasant, farmers and sugar worker communities in Negros continue to suffer from extreme poverty and widespread landlessness and have also been targets of harrassment, surveillance, red-tagging and forced "surrenders" under the Marcos Jr regime's so-called peace and development plan. Fascist state policies such as the Memorandum Order No. 32, has resulted in the escalation of human rights violations among peasants, rural organizers and rights defenders in the province who are courageously standing up to defend their rights against big business, landlords, and foreign intervention who are directly responsible for land grabbing, plunder and the expansion of large scale destructive projects in their communities.
Migrante International calls on OFWs and Filipino migrants to organize indignation rallies all over the world and join our fellow human rights defenders, peasant groups and people's organizations in Negros and throughout the Philippines in demanding justice and urgently calling for an independent and impartial investigation into the possible grave human rights violations and war crimes perpetrated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines. We hold the AFP and the Marcos Jr. regime accountable for the brutal massacre of innocent lives and we call for an end to the militarization of rural and urban communities in the island of Negros.
We express our deepest sympathies to all the families of the Toboso massacre victims. While our hearts grieve and ache, we will march on to demand justice, to continue the struggle for genuine democracy, peace and change. This is our tribute to honor their selfless sacrifices, their unconditional love for the poor and oppressed, and their committment to liberate our people from exploitation.
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