Statement
July 15, 2026
“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) joins in the global cry today for the cancellation of the conviction and sentence of the Talaingod 13,” said ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy. “This verdict was wrong, unjust and is an ongoing threat to Filipino children.
“The July 15, 2024, judicial finding – that teachers and others who saved school children from severe threats by an armed paramilitary group in November 2018 were in fact abusing the children – is a grotesque expression of the weaponizing of the law under Duterte and Marcos Jr,” Murphy said.
The court decision is part of the total suppression of over 250 Lumad indigenous community schools by the Duterte administration, a policy now also imposed by President Marcos Jr.
“This is a gross violation of the right to self-determination of indigenous peoples, the right to education for the children, and the freedom of association and assembly by those found guilty and appealing against their convictions,” Murphy said.
ICHRP is very concerned that this unjust verdict is a threat to all future solidarity missions that may take place because of the many violations of human rights in the Philippine countryside.
The charges were first laid in 2018 when Congress Rep France Castro, and former Congress Rep Satur Ocampo and others mounted a National Humanitarian Mission to Talaingod, Davao del Norte. They were bringing food to the students at the Lumad School there which was under a food blockade and threats of violence from the notorious Alamara paramilitary group.
Castro and Ocampo rightly condemned the bias of the court and the police in their failure to investigate this serious violence aimed at the teachers and students.
The humanitarian mission was in a five-vehicle convoy of more than 70 people, including 29 schoolchildren, when they were stopped at a checkpoint by Talaingod police officers and soldiers from the 56th IB at Barangay Santo Niño. Eighteen of the group were arrested, including four church clergy from the United Church of Christ of the Philippines and the United Methodist Church. Fourteen of the students were handed over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Those arrested were released three days later on bail of P80,000 (US$1,369) each.
In a 26-page decision issued on July 15, 2024, the Tagum City Regional Trial Court Branch 2 convicted Congress Rep. Castro, Ocampo and 11 others, for violation of Section 10a of Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act. They were all sentenced to four to six years in prison and ordered to pay P10,000 (US$171) as civil indemnity and P10,000 as moral damages to each of the 14 minors involved.
Also found guilty were Ma. Eugenia Victoria Nolasco, Jesus Madamo, Meriro Poquita, Maricel Andagkit, Marcial Rendon, Marianie Aga, Jenevive Paraba, Nerhaya Talledo, Ma. Concepcion Ibarra, Nerfa Awing, and Wingwing Daunsay. These are eight teachers and the administrator of Salugpungan Community Learning Center and the Community Technical College of Southeastern Mindanao, and two teachers from the Alliance of Concerned Teachers. The four accused church clerics were acquitted.
