Urgent Alert
March 31, 2026
ICHRP calls for the immediate release of artist and activist Charlize Garzon, who was arrested on March 29th, 2026 by the 68th Infantry Battalion and the 203rd Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The arrest of Charlize represents an example of the ongoing attacks on land defenders in Mindoro, Philippines. ICHRP fully supports the indigenous Mangyan-Buhid people of Mindoro in calling for an end to militarization in the countryside.
According to the human rights alliance Karapatan Southern Tagalog, the military arrested Charlize following an encounter with the New People’s Army, and detained her at the San Jose Municipal Police Station where she faces further investigation.
The military’s presumption of Charlize’s status as a member of the NPA rather than as a civilian, without being tested in a court of law through fair trial, is a violation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). Signed by both the GRP and the NDFP, CARHRIHL includes protections for civilians and persons hors de combat amidst the ongoing civil war in the Philippines. These protections are both a cornerstone of IHL (the laws of war) and are flagrantly, consistently violated by the Marcos Jr. administration, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Philippine National Police.
Charlize was arrested on March 29th – the internationally recognized Day of the Landless – and almost two weeks after municipal courts in Abra de Ilog, Mindoro authorized Pieceland Corporation to evict the indigenous Mangyan-Iraya from their land on March 15, 2026.
Sitio Salafay, primarily composed of indigenous people from the Mangyan-Buhid ethnolinguistic group, is currently facing the threat of the Lipitan Small Reservoir Irrigation Project, which aims to construct two dams along the Kayakyan and Busuanga rivers to supposedly “develop” irrigation systems. The project, which has reportedly ignored Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) from affected indigenous communities, is expected to impact 40,000 community members.
So long as the rights of indigenous people are disregarded in Mindoro and across the Philippines, attacks by the state including arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, and disappearances will remain in force. ICHRP calls urgently for the rights of Charlize and the Mangyan-Buhid to be upheld.
#FreeCharlizeGarzon
#UpholdIHL
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