Statement
January 14, 2026

Since the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP’s) New Years Day bombings, massacre and the illegal detention of Chantal Anicoche, the AFP has launched a social media campaign to attempt to divert attention from their massive human rights abuses. 

Aided by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, the AFP is promoting false narratives about “rescuing” Chantal Anicoche, blatantly denying the massive violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) that resulting from its January 1 bombings in Mindoro, and actively attacking social media accounts of human rights groups – including ICHRP. The AFP Southern Luzon Command even openly called ICHRP statements on the bombings “fake news.” If indeed Ms. Anicoche has been “rescued” by the AFP, why does she remain in military custody, and why has she been denied access to humanitarian support? 

“The Philippine government is once again attempting to whitewash its rotten record of violations of IHL by attacking our social media accounts with a disinformation blitz. The Philippine government is using its trolls and false narrative in an attempt to hide its bloody crimes against the Filipino people in Abra de Ilog, Mindoro Occidental,” said ICHRP Chairperson, Peter Murphy.

The January 1st bombings – which occurred despite the unilateral ceasefire declared by the New People’s Army that AFP was claiming to attack – resulted in the deaths of three Mangyan-Iraya indigenous children and two youth, including Jerlyn Rose Doydora, a researcher from a university in Manila. The bombs also destroyed crops, farmland, and reportedly killed two cows and three carabaos, severely affecting the agricultural livelihood of the Mangyan indigenous people. According to local government data, 769 individuals were forcibly displaced and evacuated to a local high school.

On January 5, human rights groups Karapatan Southern Tagalog reported that Anicoche was missing and international concern began to grow. On January 7, the AFP’s 203rd Infantry Brigade released videos surfacing Chantal Anicoche. In the videos she appeared scared and under duress as soldiers seemingly found, surrounded, and interrogated her before bringing her to the camp of the 76th Infantry Battalion. According to the narrative of the AFP, all of this occurred on January 7, some six days after the military attack and occupation of Abra de Ilog.

Meanwhile, the AFP and the Marcos Jr government have refused to allow numerous humanitarian missions and independent observers, including Congressional Representative Antonio Tinio, access to Anicoche. 

“It’s plausible that rather than finding her on January 7, the military had already taken her during their bombing and ground operations a week earlier. In either event, we can only imagine the suffering and abuse she is undergoing at the hands of the AFP,” said Murphy.  

The strategic whitewashing of IHL violations by the AFP has been ongoing under the Marcos Jr regime, as is the ongoing civil war and counterinsurgency policy that continues and intensifies in many areas of the country. According to Murphy, “the false narratives and trolling of ICHRP are a smokescreen to whitewash all the war crimes of the Marcos government”. 

“If the Marcos government were serious about IHL, they would rejoin the International Criminal Court and submit to independent investigation of the crimes of bombing of civilians, bombing and occupation of schools, and the ongoing murder of civilian non-combatants. They would also immediately release Ms Anicoche,” Murphy concluded.

Add your signature to the statement at ichrp.net/ReleaseChantal

Organizations, networks, and individuals from the Philippines and around the world are calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Chantal Anicoche from the custody of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Her continued detention and the lack of transparent information regarding her condition constitute serious violations of her rights and place her safety at grave risk.

Chantal was reported missing following indiscriminate aerial bombings and military operations on January 1, 2026 in Barangay Cabacao, Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro. Reports now indicate that Chantal is being held by units under the 203rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army. To date, authorities have failed to fully disclose her whereabouts and condition, while restricting humanitarian and fact-finding efforts in the area. Her continued detention under these conditions is causing severe distress and anxiety for her and her family and places her at serious risk of prolonged interrogation, harassment, intimidation, or other forms of abuse by the AFP.

You can contribute by signing on to the statement at ichrp.net/ReleaseChantal.

The full list of demands is as follows:

1. The immediate and unconditional release of Chantal Anicoche and her safe return to her family.
2. Full respect for her rights, including freedom from torture, interrogation, threats, harassment, and intimidation.
3. A swift, independent, and impartial investigation by the Commission on Human Rights and other international organizations monitoring human rights and International Humanitarian Law into the Mindoro bombings, civilian deaths, and Chantal’s detention.
4. The immediate cessation of aerial bombings and military operations in civilian communities and the withdrawal of military forces from Mindoro.
5. Unhampered access for humanitarian, medical, and fact-finding missions and support to affected communities.

Urgent Alert on the Disappearance of Chantal Anicoche
January 8, 2026

Human rights organization Karapatan reported that Chantal Anicoche – a US Filipino community leader who went missing after New Years’ Day  bombings by state military in Mindoro – is alive and now in custody of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. 

We join Chantal’s friends and family and colleagues in calling for her immediate release and safe return to home. Her rights must be upheld at all times, and she should be released immediately. We demand that Chantal must not be subject to any form of torture, interrogation, threat, harassment, and intimidation from the hands of any unit of the AFP. 

Chantal’s initial disappearance came after the January 1st AFP bombing and strafing of a community in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro. Performed in the guise of a military operation against the New People’s Army, the bombings killed 5 civilians – three Mangyan-Iraya indigenous children and two youth, including Jerlyn Rose Doydora, a researcher from a university in Manila. The bombs also destroyed crops, farmland, and reportedly killed two cows and three carabaos, severely affecting the livelihood of the Mangyan indigenous people. According to local government data, 769 individuals were forcibly displaced and evacuated in a local high school. 

The bombings in Mindoro constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law and amounts towar crimes. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and its Commander and Chief, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, are responsible and must be held accountable for these egregious crimes. While the AFP may try and pose as having “found” Chantal, they are the very ones guilty of the war crimes that have caused the grave crisis in Mindoro. 

Chantal is a 25 year old Filipina from Maryland, where she has served as a leader with the Filipino American Student Association. Chantal has taken up the causes of Filipino migrants abroad and peasants and indigenous communities in the Philippines. In the US, Chantal served as a staunch advocate of the Philippine Human Rights Act, a proposed US bill which calls for the suspension of military aid to the Philippine military until human rights requirements are met and human rights perpetrators are held accountable. 

Chantal’s advocacy and experience in the US inspired her to go to the Philippines to integrate with the most exploited and oppressed classes, which brought her to Mindoro, where people are resisting the entry of mining corporations and destructive renewable energy projects on the island. 

ICHRP calls upon members and friends of ICHRP, and those who care for human rights, to take inspiration from Chantal Anicoche, who chose to give up personal comfort and aspirations in the United States to dedicate herself to the cause of the downtrodden. We call for urgent campaigning for her release, and an end to the military blockade in Abra de Ilog, Mindoro. Just like Chantal, we call for an international fight against foreign military aid to the AFP and the ongoing war crimes of the Marcos regime in the Philippines. 

STOP THE BOMBINGS IN MINDORO!
END WAR CRIMES IN THE PHILIPPINES!
RELEASE CHANTAL ANICOCHE!
END FOREIGN MILITARY AID
TO THE MARCOS REGIME!

Urgent Alert

January 5, 2026

Global human rights group International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) expresses its utmost condemnation of the aerial bombardment and strafing conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro, that resulted in the massacre of three children and two youth.

Around 6 AM on January 1, combined forces of the 76th Infantry Battalion Philippine Army (IBPA), 68th IBPA and the 5th Scout Ranger Battalion conducted “strike operations” against members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Sitio Mamara, Brgy. Cabacao, Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro. The military operation allegedly resulted in three encounters between government troops and the NPA.

Afterwards, local witnesses saw four AFP attack helicopters drop a total of 12 bombs and conduct aerial strafing in the area. The bombings killed three Mangyan-Iraya children and wounded their mother. It also caused the deaths of Jerlyn Rose Doydora, a researcher from a university in Manila, and one other youth researcher who died from injuries caused by the bombings. 

Meanwhile, the civilian population and Mangyan-Iraya Indigenous People experienced severe trauma and distress from the bombings that lasted three hours. The bombs destroyed their crops, farmland, and reportedly killed two cows and three carabaos, severely affecting their livelihood. According to local government data, 769 individuals were forcibly displaced and evacuated in a local high school. 

A team from local human rights group Karapatan Southern Tagalog has faced intense harassment, threats, and red-tagging from the AFP, Philippine National Police (PNP), and the local government in Mindoro. They are preventing the team from conducting a fact-finding mission in the affected areas to gather information on the impacts of the bombings on the civilian population.

The massacre of five individuals in Abra de Ilog adds to the long list of war crimes and human rights violations of the AFP against the people of Mindoro. Just last December 23, former mayoral candidate of Abra de Ilog and staunch anti-corruption campaigner, Monet Alcantara, was abducted from his home and charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives by state forces. 

This followed the abduction and torture of a Mangyan-Iraya woman by the 76th IBPA on December 2, the killings of farmers Juan Sumilhig on August 1, 2025, and Hulyo Agtay on March 14, 2025, and the murder of Indigenous youth Jay-El Maligday on April 7, 2024. Even delegates of the International Solidarity Mission (ISM) team in Abra de Ilog last October 2025 who integrated with the Mangyan-Iraya Indigenous Peoples experienced harassment and intimidation by state forces.

The barbaric and overkill military operation of the AFP against a small unit of the NPA further exposes the desperation of its commander-in-chief Marcos Jr. to end the communist rebellion in the island to hasten the entry of huge mining companies and renewable energy projects. This is the reason why widespread militarization persists in Mindoro.

Below are some of the planned corporate projects, all in Abra de Ilog:
a) Mining operations of Agusan Petroleum after the government nullified the 25-year moratorium on mining in Occidental Mindoro;
b) The 375-megawatt Abra de Ilog Wind Energy Project planned to operate by 2031; and 
c) The privatization of the Luyang Baga Cave in Brgy. Cabacao for ecotourism. The cave stands on ancestral lands of the farmers and the Mangyan-Iraya Indigenous People.

ICHRP calls for justice for all victims of the bombings perpetrated by the AFP in Mindoro. We condemn the AFP and Marcos Jr. government for grave violations of international humanitarian law and for endangering the lives of hundreds of civilians. We call for an end to the militarization in the island of Mindoro.

We are also calling for donations to support the humanitarian team that is currently conducting a fact-finding mission in the affected areas. You can send financial support through this link:

https://ichrp.net/donate/