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The anti-war movement across the U.S. vehemently condemns and joins the fight for justice for the victims of the Toboso Massacre enacted by the U.S.-backed Armed Forces of the Philippines on April 19.
We are grieving the loss of 19 beautiful, vibrant and dedicated individuals and raise the alarm at the forced displacement of more than 653 residents from 168 households in peasant communities in the region of Negros Occidental in the Philippines. Among the confirmed killed are beloved Filipino American activists Lyle Prijoles from California and Kai Sorem from Washington State. Lyle and Kai are part and parcel of our anti-war struggles here in the U.S., the belly of the beast and we are outraged at their murder.
The attack took place while over 10,000 U.S. soldiers are currently deployed to the Philippines for the Balikatan war drills and under the context of longstanding military alliance, military aid and counterinsurgency training of the Philippines by the U.S. The evidence mounting that this was indeed a massacre by the AFP violating international humanitarian law, with U.S.-made and funded artillery and aircraft, can not be covered up by the clumsy lies of the latest counterinsurgency force in the Philippines – the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
We extend our deepest condolences to the families and friends of:
1. Roel Sabillo, 19, resident of Barangay Tabunac, Toboso
2. R.J. Nichole Ledesma, 30, community journalist from Bacolod City
3. Alyssa Alano, councilor, UP Diliman Student Council
4. Maureen Keil Santuyo, 24, member, National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates (NNARA-Youth)
5. Errol Wendel, 24, member, Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura
6. Jemina Gumadlas, 15, resident of Sitio Plarending, Barangay Salamanca, Toboso
7. Lyle Prijoles, 40, of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, from San Franciso, California (USA)
8. Kai Sorem, 26, from Seattle, Washington (USA)
9. Dexter Patajo, 17, Sitio Buklog, Barangay Lalong, Calatrava, Negros Occidental
Based on the initial information we have gathered, they were killed despite the fact they were unarmed or non-combatants. Among them are a journalist, a student leader, peasant organizers, overseas human rights workers and local residents. Two of the victims were minors.
We also honor red fighters of the New People’s Army who fought the fascists to their last breath. They are:
1. Roger Fabillar (Ka Tapang), who served as NPA commander of the Northern Negros Front
2. Sonny Boy Caramihan, 28, from IBarangay Bagonbon, San Carlos City;
3. Rene Villarin Sr, 57, Barangay Marcelo, Calatrava, squad leader;
4. Pedro Bonghanoy, medical officer, Barangay Libertad, Escalante City;
5. Arnel Javoc, 32, from Barangay Lalong, Calatrava;
6. Joros Caramihan y Ramos, 18, from Don Salvador Benedicto;
7. Maria Clarita Branzuel Blanco (Ka Sanim/Pat), Political Instructor; and
8. Genevieve Balora (Ka Raia), from Bacolod City, district Party cadre
9. Labskie Purisimia Enustacion, 33, of Sitio Tinibawan, Barangay Bug-ang, Toboso
10. Jocel Gimang, 18, of Sitio Bautista, Barangay Malasibog, Escalante City
The Toboso massacre is also significant since it is the first time in the country’s history that two foreign human rights advocates have been killed in an encirclement and suppression campaign by the Philippine Army and its paramilitary forces. Lyle Prijoles with International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) and Kai Sorem with Anakbayan South Seattle had long supported the campaign in U.S. Congress to significantly reduce military aid to the Philippines owing to extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and massive displacement of rural communities.
Negros, along with Samar and Bicol, was declared as a site of “lawless violence” by Memorandum Circular No. 32 (MC32) by then president Rodrigo Duterte in 2018. The memorandum was released following several extrajudicial killings of peasants and activists, including the nine members of the National Federation of Sugar Workers massacred in Sagay on October 20, 2018. Scores have been killed in Negros Island because of joint military and police operations, with the Sagay 9 massacre as a prime example of the culture of impunity trashing the rule of law and Philippine obligations under international humanitarian law. The Toboso 19 massacre is but a repeat of the Escalante massacre, September 20, 1985, in Escalante, Negros Occidental where government paramilitary forces gunned down civilians engaged in a rally in commemoration of the 13th anniversary of the declaration of martial law, during the dark days of the Marcos Sr. fascist dictatorship.
It is no coincidence that this bloodshed occurred as the U.S. and Philippines’ militaries conduct the annual multi-lateral Balikatan (“Shoulder-to-Shoulder”) military exercises. Balikatan was launched in 2001, initially justified under the global war on terror and concentrated on counterinsurgency operations. Over time, Balikatan and dozens of other annual U.S.-Philippines military exercises evolved into mechanisms for interoperability, logistics integration, and strategic positioning.
Since their beginning, the Balikatan exercises have fostered numerous human rights violations against the Filipino people. In addition to the massacre in Toboso Negros, three people were killed and two were injured in a region near the locations of the Balikatan exercises in Zamboanga City, Mindanao, including a 12-year-old Moro child, during a joint operation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the early morning of April 23, 2026.
This December 2025, the U.S. PERA “Philippines Enhanced Resiliancy” Act was passed through bipartisan support in the National Defense Authorization Act in Congress giving “$2.5 billion in U.S. security assistance” to the Philippines to “deepen U.S.-Philippines defense cooperation and strengthen the defense capabilities and interoperability of the U.S.-Philippines Alliance to meet growing threats in the Indo-Pacific“. This has embedded US doctrine, command structures, and operational dependence into the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which is using this playbook to kill the peasant masses struggling for their land and livelihood, and those who choose to fight alongside them. This kind of U.S. military funding, training, and support for the AFP shows the direct culpability of the U.S. military and government in the war crimes and violence committed in these massacres.
While the genocide rages in Gaza, ceasefire violations continue in Lebanon and the hybrid-warfare against Iran continues in West Asia, the Zionist forces of Israel also are complicit in the massacre in the Philippines. Public records show that Israeli defense companies have supplied the Philippines with drones, radar systems, patrol vessels, and thousands of assault rifles used by police and military units. These partnerships reinforce security approaches centered on surveillance, rapid neutralization of targets, and combat-style engagement.
These incidents point to a pattern of intelligence-driven raids conducted in civilian areas under the framework of “counter terrorism,” blurring the line between law enforcement and combat. The U.S. has directed conducted or backed similar massacres under so-called “combating narco terrorism” boat strike operations in the Caribbean and Pacific against Venezuelan, Colombian and Trinidadian individuals, as well as the murders in the bombings of peasants in Esmeraldas, Ecuador and the murder of five young people in Colcabamba, Peru this week by the Peruvian military under so-called “anti-trafficking” military operations.
The Anti-War movement must join the fight against the military aid, exercises and U.S. military-backed operations that are not only preparing the national armies of US neo-colonies for future wars but are already emboldening fascist forces to be used by U.S. puppet government against their own people.
We join the calls of our comrades in the Philippines national democratic movement for Justice for the Negros 19 in Toboso and the victims of the massacre in Zamboanga City. We demand an immediate and independent investigation into the AFP’s April 19th attack and into US funding and support for the brutal, fascist Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration.
And we honor those who served the people until their last breath.
Signed,
Resist U.S.-Led War Movement, United National Antiwar Coalition, Anti War Action Network, Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective, Diaspora Pa’lante Collective, Labor for Palestine, Prutehi Guahan, Black Alliance for Peace, Palestinian Youth Movement, Workers World Party, International Action Center, International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines – U.S., Juventúd Unida en la Diáspora, International League of People’s Struggle – U.S.
