23/04/2026
Justice For Alyssa Alano, Justice For RJ Ledesma! Singilin, ilantad, panagutin ang berdugong militar!
On April 19, Barangay Salamanca in Toboso, Negros Occidental, was mercilessly riddled with gunfire by the 79th Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Among those killed was UP Diliman USC Councilor Alyssa Alano. In a separate clash, community journalist RJ Nichole Ledesma was also slain. Both individuals embodied courage and conviction, choosing to live among and stand with local, vulnerable farming communities through direct immersion and volunteer work. Alyssa Alano went to Negros to confront, firsthand, the harsh realities faced by Negrense farmers, while RJ, as a community journalist, carried out immersion reporting on the impacts of renewable energy projects imposed in the area [1]. These were not incidental acts, but were manifestations of a deeper political and moral resolve to side with the marginalized, to reject indifference, and to live as mga tunay na anak ng bayan.
When news of their killings broke, a chorus of reaction followed that was laced with suspicion, distortion, and outright vilification. A dangerous narrative resurfaced, wherein any researcher who dares to go to the mountains, to embed themselves among the people, is automatically complicit with the New Peopleโs Army (NPA). From this logic flows the machinery of red-tagging, pronouncing their methods as nothing more than a pretext for insurgent allegiance, stripping their work of legitimacy, and marking them as targets. This narrative must be confronted and dismantled. On-the-ground research is not a crime, but rather, it is the very foundation of rigorous, accountable scholarship. Knowledge that remains detached from lived realities is hollow, and it is through immersion that research becomes praxis.
The decision of Alyssa to live among farmers and RJโs commitment to community-based reporting were not acts of subversion but of discipline, integrity, and political clarity. Their work stands firmly within the tradition of immersive ethnographic research that seeks not only to observe, but to understand culture as a dynamic, dialectical process, grounded in interpretation and empirical inquiry [2]. They did not go to the mountains to inflict more threats; they went to listen, to learn, and to bear witness. They sought to critically analyze the conditions of farming communities, to translate lived struggle into knowledge that could be shared, amplified, and mobilized. In doing so, they carried forward a critical praxis, which is one that refuses neutrality in the face of oppression, and instead chooses to stand alongside the people, to uplift their voices, and to confront the forces that seek to silence them [3]. If one is to claim the mantle of being radical or progressive, how can that claim stand without a grounded understanding of the material realities that shape oneโs social environment? Alyssa and RJ did nothing more, and nothing less, than wield their intellect, skill, and conviction in the service of the people. They went to communities not to conspire, but to uncover long-standing injustices, document lived realities, and expand public consciousness about the conditions endured by those pushed to the margins.
History itself bears witness to this pattern of persecution. One need only recall the killing of Leonard Co, a scientist gunned down in Kananga, Leyte, after being falsely branded an insurgent while conducting research and collecting seedlings of endangered trees [4]. His death, like Alyssa and RJโs, exposes a grim truth that in a system gripped by abuse and repression, even the pursuit of knowledge is treated as a threat. What, then, is so dangerous about research? When did the act of seeking truth become an offense against the nation? Research is a dignified endeavor, one that sharpens critical thought, interrogates power, and resists the suffocating tide of misinformation. It is precisely in times like these that such work becomes indispensable. And yet, it is not the researcher who should stand accused. Far more condemnable is the plunder perpetuated by a fascistic state apparatus and the entrenched interests of the greedy and powerful.
From the UP Communication Research Society, we extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones and comrades of Alyssa and RJ, and to all community leaders who, in various ways, have devoted their lives to service and advocacy. Beyond their roles as academics, researchers, or organizers, they were, above all, human beings. That humanity must never be stripped from them in life or in memory. We refuse to reduce their existence to labels and statistics, nor allow their legacies to be flattened by narratives that erase their intent and their dignity. They lived lives that, in many ways, were fuller than comfort alone could offer because they stood in the difficult work of opening spaces for dialogue on underserved and neglected communities that, time and again, have been ignored by the very institutions meant to serve them.
Mga Mananaliksik ng Bayan at mga Alagad ng Midya, carrying the indominable spirit of Alyssa and RJ, we are called to continue the rigorous study of society with courage and conviction. Our work does not end in abstract theorizing confined to classrooms or papers. It demands descending into communities, standing with the masses, reaching the grassroots, and taking part in the ongoing struggle for social justice for the oppressed. Let it be made unequivocally clear that research and immersion have never been, and must never be, equated with terrorism. Such claims distort both truth and intent.
Research, at its core, has always beenโand will always remainโan essential force in progressive inquiry and social transformation. It is not passive observation, but a living, evolving practice rooted in dialogue, collaboration, and accountability to lived realities. Militante dapat ang pananaliksik; militante dapat ang mga mananaliksik. There is nothing unlawful in standing with communities, especially when their futures, their dignity, and their very freedoms are at stake. No chain is too long to be questioned when sharpened, critical, and intellectually grounded minds choose to examine and challenge the structures that sustain it.
Para kay Alyssa at RJ, kayo ay huwarang martir ng sambayanan. Ang pangako ng inyong mga kasama: ang hustisya sa lahat ng biktima ng pasistang estado ay makakamit.
Hustisya para kay Alyssa Alano at RJ Ledesma!
Uphold International Humanitarian Law!
Militar sa Kanayunan, Palayasin!
References
[1] Statement on the Killing of RJ Nichole Ledesma. (2026, April 22). Altermidya. https://www.altermidya.net/statement-on-the-killing-of-rj-nichole-ledesma-1/
[2] Hedican, E. J. (1994). Epistemological Implications of Anthropological Field Work, with Notes from Northern Ontario. Anthropologica, 36(2), 205. https://doi.org/10.2307/25605771
[3] Kemmis, S. (2010). Research for praxis: knowing doing. Pedagogy Culture and Society, 18(1), 9โ27. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681360903556756
[4] Medenilla, V. (2022, August 11). Nearly 12 years after esteemed botanistโs killing, justice remains out of reach. Manila Bulletin. https://mb.com.ph/2022/08/11/nearly-12-years-after-esteemed-botanists-killing-justice-remains-out-of-reach/
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