The Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG) condemns the grave human rights and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) violations surrounding the killing of the Toboso 19 and the continuing militarization of peasant communities in Brgy. Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental.
As part of the International Fact-Finding and Solidarity Mission (IFSM) conducted on 14 May 2026, CPDG joined 117 delegates from human rights organizations, churches, media groups, and people’s organizations in documenting testimonies, physical evidence, and conditions of peasant communities affected by the military operations.
The findings directly contradict the military’s claim that all 19 killed were armed combatants.
Residents and witnesses identified at least six of the victims as civilians who were peasant organizers, researchers, and development workers including a journalist assisting communities in agrarian disputes already raised before the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). [u1] According to the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), around 16 farmer households are in land dispute with the owners of the 18-hectare Hacienda Bedonia in Bgy. Salamanca, Toboso. Another 10 farmer households are claiming rights over an 18-hectare farmland owned by the provincial government in Sitio Moscubado, Bgy. Poblacion, Toboso.
The mission documented house-to-house military operations, surveillance, intimidation of residents, indiscriminate firing near civilian homes, and the interrogation and detention of civilians, including a mother and her 14-year-old son.
The findings raise serious concerns under Republic Act 9851 or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity. Documented violations include the failure to distinguish civilians from combatants, the targeting of non-combatants, the forced evacuation of more than 600 residents, and the reported desecration and mishandling of the victims’ remains. The mission also documented evidence left uncollected three weeks after the incident despite military control of the area from 19 to 21 April, 2026 raising concerns over possible evidence tampering and obstruction of accountability.
These violations are especially alarming given that the Philippine government itself hosted the 2025 Asia and Pacific Regional Conference on International Humanitarian Law and projected the country as a defender of IHL principles. Yet the realities in Toboso—including the killing of civilians, forced evacuations, militarization of communities, and possible violations of RA 9851—expose the deep contradiction between these claims, including international commitments and the situation faced by marginalized rural communities.
As Atty. Krissy Conti of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) stated: “What is clearly established here is that there are holes in the story—the narrative—of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines). The most important thing established here is that it wasn’t 19 NPA members who clashed with the military… The [other] nine were civilians. The community clearly stated and identified who the civilians were.”
These violations cannot be separated from the worsening socio-economic crisis confronting peasant and rural communities across the country, which remains deeply pronounced in Negros. Communities in Negros continue to face landlessness, displacement, militarization, and extreme exploitation under harsh living working conditions and slave wages, with sugar workers reportedly surviving on wages as low as USD 20 per week while agricultural lands remain concentrated under large landlords and agribusiness interests. The targeting of peasant organizers and communities asserting their rights to land and livelihood constitutes a continuing violation of economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR), a pervading violence against the millions of poor Filipino families committed by the Philippine government past and present.
As Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of the Diocese of San Carlos stated during the mission, “Lasting peace cannot be built only through military operations. Peace must be rooted in justice, dialogue, respect for human rights, and addressing the root causes of conflict, especially landlessness, poverty, exclusion, and historical injustices.” He further stressed that “Peace is not merely the absence of war. True peace is the presence of justice, compassion, and human dignity.”
Similarly, Ariel Casilao, the national chairperson of the Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) underscored that unless the deeper agrarian crisis is addressed, conflict in Negros “will definitely continue to heighten and intensify.”
CPDG stands with the families of the victims and the people of Negros in demanding:
- The conduct of an impartial investigation on the killing of Toboso 19;
- Justice and accountability for the Toboso 19; especially from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the 79th Infantry Battalion;
- The immediate pullout of military forces from civilian communities;
- The resumption of genuine peace talks and the reactivation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL); and
- Genuine land reform and the protection of peasant communities, organizers, and human rights defenders.
There can be no genuine peace while communities are terrorized, civilians are killed, and the roots of conflict remain unaddressed. Justice for the Toboso 19 demands accountability, an end to impunity, land, dignity, and just peace. #