Press Statement
January 24, 2026

“They have been in jail for almost six years on what the court has found to be fake firearms and explosives charges, but fake testimony about financing the New People’s Army could now keep journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and her co-accused, lay church worker Mariel Domequil, in prison for at least another six years,” said Peter Murphy, chairperson of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP). “We urge an immediate appeal to overturn these convictions.”

“Ms Cumpio and Ms Domequil should be granted bail immediately, to get them out f the Tacloban City jail,” Murphy said.

“ICHRP joins with a huge array of organisations in condemning this conviction on blatantly false evidence,” said Murphy. These organizations include the national human rights alliance KARAPATAN, the Committee to Protect Journalists Asia-Pacific, Reporters without Borders, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, the national women’s alliance Gabriela, and independent online news service Altermidya.

The continued jailing of Ms Cumpio, executive director of the community media Eastern Vista at the time of her arrest, is a vivid demonstration of the ongoing repression of the media in the Philippines, especially of journalists critical of government policies. Ms Cumpio reported on the killings of peasant leaders. Ms Domequil is a lay worker with Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), dedicated to support projects with peasant communities in the Eastern Visayas. RMP was heavily persecuted by the Duterte administration and this continues under Marcos Jr.

“Ms Cumpio and Ms Domequil are political prisoners. These fabricated charges must be quashed and the prisoners liberated,” said Murphy. “There are over 695 political prisoners in the Philippines, a real scandal in Southeast Asia. All of them should be freed to enable deep going political reform.”

The two were convicted on January 22, 2026, of financing terrorism by the Regional Trial Court in Tacloban City, Leyte, a court which also acquitted them of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. The pair was sentenced to a jail term of 12 to 18 years. They were arrested back on February 7, 2020, and the explosives charge was non-bailable.

The state had alleged that on March 29, 2019 in Catbalogan, Samar, Cumpio and Domequil allegedly delivered cash and support to the New People’s Army, in alleged violation of Republic Act No. 10168, the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act. The firearms and explosives charges were thrown out because the court found they were based on unreliable witnesses, speculative intelligence, and inconsistent narratives. But based on this unreliable evidence, security forces raided the Eastern Vista office on February 7, 2020 in Tacloban City, seizing ₱557,360.00, (USD9,430) which had been collected to aid communities hit by natural disaster or military attack.

“ICHRP calls for all seized funds to be returned to the humanitarian organizations concerned, so that they can continue their important work,” said Murphy.

“The National Taskforce to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) drives this kind of repression and gross injustice,” said Murphy. “It is long overdue that the international community press for the abolition of NTF-ELCAC and the transformation of the judiciary into an independent institution that upholds the law, especially the basic human rights of the Filipino people set out in the Constitution and in international law.”

“The Anti-Terrorism Law (RA 11479), based on Australian advice, and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Law (RA 10168), must be repealed or fundamentally redrawn,” Murphy concluded.

Global rights group backs church calls for an end to persecution of clergy 

Press Statement
January 20, 2026

Rev Glofie G Baluntong, a United Methodist Church (UMC) District Superintendent for Mindoro, Romblon and Marinduque at the time, was arrested on attempted murder charges in 2021, following an alleged clash between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the New People’s Army (NPA). She was finally acquitted of this charge by the Regional Trial Court in Mindoro Oriental on December 8, 2025. This outcome was announced by the UMC on January 17, 2026.

“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) joins with the UMC in celebrating this victory for Rev Baluntong, and at the same time we condemn the state prosecutors and the Philippine judiciary for the long delay to this outcome. The Duterte and Marcos Jr governments are again exposed for grave abuse of judicial process,” said ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy.

“ICHRP calls for the dropping of all trumped-up cases and the release of all political prisoners held by the Marcos Jr government, numbered at 696 at the end of November 2025,” said Murphy.

Rev Baluntong was able to post bail, and thus avoid detention while awaiting trial. During her trial, she was able to prove that she was officiating at a funeral service on March 25, 2021, at the time of the alleged clash between the AFP and the NPA. And the prosecutors were unable to prove that the alleged wounded soldier had ever been wounded or could identify who may have shot at him. The court found that Baluntong was charged because her name appeared in a government “order of battle.”

And why was she in the “order of battle”? The UMC said she had been targeted for providing sanctuary to Indigenous Mangyan communities resisting mining, logging and land-grabbing. 

Government support for these destructive projects means massive intensification of militarization and war crimes committed by the AFP on Mindoro. On the first day of the year, in the town of Abra de Ilog,  the AFP deployed over 1000 soldiers and further terrorized the community with indiscriminate aerial bombing and strafing from helicopters. Almost 700 residents were forced to evacuate, and the attack resulted in the deaths of five civilians, including three children.

Rev Baluntong told online journal Bulatlat in November 2022 that the harassment started after she allowed members of a fact-finding team of human rights group Karapatan-Southern Tagalog to spend the night in her church sometime in June 2019. The group was assisting families to claim the bodies of guerilla fighters killed in a clash with the military from a funeral home in the area.

On October 6, 2022, the state prosecutors withdrew an August 2021 charge against Rev Baluntong of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act, saying that they had insufficient proof to sustain the charge.

Rev Baluntong was forced to leave Mindoro because of this sustained harassment by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

ICHRP echoes the call of the UMC to the Philippine government: 

1. End the vilification and the filing of trumped-up charges against individuals and organizations, including members of the church who uphold peace in society, human rights, and environmental justice; 
2. Repeal repressive laws, especially the Anti-Terrorism Act, which has been weaponized to suppress, intimidate, and attack advocates of environmental protection and human rights; 
3. Abolish the NTF-ELCAC, a principal government agency with a long record of repression, baseless accusations, and the dissemination of falsehoods; 
4. Resume and enforce the stalled Peace Talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in order to put an end to poverty, the destruction of the country’s natural resources, and the various forms of violence regarded as causes of armed struggle.

Previously signed agreements from peace negotiations, which call for the upholding of human rights and international humanitarian law, but have been totally disregarded by the Marcos regime, must be upheld.

“ICHRP calls on the international community to treat the Philippine government as a pariah and to cease all military aid until there is genuine respect for human rights for the Filipino people,” Murphy concluded.

Urgent Alert

January 18, 2026

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) stands in firm solidarity with the residents of Dupax Del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya as they bravely oppose the entry of British mining company Woggle Corporation into their lands through a people’s barricade.

We condemn the escalating attacks by the Woggle Corporation against the locals who are rightfully asserting their right to land. We are raising the alarm over the environmental destruction, loss of livelihood, and attacks on peasant and rural communities Dupax. We condemn in equal terms the connivance of state forces and local government agencies in allowing the entry of the mining company, prioritizing profit over the welfare of the people.

The conflict between Woggle Corporation and the residents of Dupax Del Norte dates back to August 4, 2025, when the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) granted an Exploration Permit (EP) to the UK-based mining company for its Dupax Exploration Project. The permit covers over 3,100 hectares of land that spans five barangays in the locality. Woggle targeted the municipality because of its rich gold and copper deposits.

The EP was granted despite several environmental, procedural irregularities, and widespread objection from the communities. A month prior, Woggle had already uprooted trees in Sitio Keon, Bitnong and worse this is without any permission from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). 

Opposition to Woggle heightened throughout August 2025. The peasant community along with church leaders, lawyers, environmentalists, and even barangay councils and local government units denounced the mining project and called for the cancellation of its permits.

In September 2025, residents of Bitnong erected barricades to prevent the entry of Woggle’s employees and mining equipment. As a response, Woggle sought and was awarded a court-issued Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) by Nueva Vizcaya Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 30 Judge Paul Attolba Jr. The judge explicitly ordered the arrest of anyone who “willfully disobeys, obstructs, or resists” the court order and even allowed the filing of contempt charges.

Tensions heightened on October 17, 2025, as hundreds of uniformed police and masked individuals violently dispersed the barricade, arresting three people in the process. In December 12, 2025, residents reported harassment, theft, and destruction and confiscation of property perpetrated by Woggle and its employees.

In the latest development, RTC Branch 30 on January 13 issued a Writ of Preliminary Injunction, ordering the removal of the barricades and allowing the entry of Woggle. Despite the court order, the residents alongside environmental advocates and organizations remain firm and continue to oppose it through the barricades.

The resistance of the people of Dupax Del Norte against Woggle is emblematic of how imperialist plunder operates in the Philippines—multinational companies bypass permits, rig processes, use various methods of deception and bribery to acquire consent from locals, and worse, resort to the use of military and police force to drive away and kill those who resist. Foreign companies aggressively target the Philippines due to it being the fifth-most mineral-rich country in the world.

It also exposes the duplicitous role of state agencies in wilfully allowing the entry of these companies. Both the Marcos Jr. government and the previous Duterte administration are complicit—Duterte for lifting the nine-year ban on open-pit mining in 2021, and Marcos Jr. for signing the Enhanced Fiscal Regime for Large-Scale Metallic Mining Act in 2025 that eases application for mining corporations.

ICHRP is inspired by the bravery of the people of Dupax Del Norte in resisting Woggle and for fighting for their right to land. We condemn Woggle’s attacks against the people, and we call on the Marcos Jr. government to act swiftly in cancelling Woggle’s mining permits and protect the livelihood and welfare of the people against corporate profit and widespread environmental destruction.

Press Statement
January 14, 2026

After more than five years of unjust detention, the fabricated charges filed against Amanda Echanis were dismissed today at the promulgation hearing at Branch 10 of the Regional Trial Court in Taguegarao City, Cagayan. Echanis, now 37, was arrested in the early hours of December 2, 2020, in a raid on her house in Baggao, Cagayan, by police and military agents, on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) is celebrating this victory for Amanda Echanis and her supporters, and at the same time we condemn the Philippine judiciary for the long delay to this outcome, and the government for its grave abuse of judicial process to repress Amanda and the peasant movement for genuine agrarian reform,” said ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy.

ICHRP had raised the case of Amanda Echanis and many other violations of individual and collective rights to the United Nations Human Rights Council in its 2021 INVESTIGATE PH reports.

“ICHRP calls for the release of all political prisoners held by the Marcos Jr government, numbered at 696 at the end of November 2025,” said Murphy.

Echanis said that during the raid she and her family were forced out of the house and alleged that the police and military agents planted firearms, ammunition, and explosives. She said the search warrant was only presented after the raid had begun. At the time she had a 10-month-old son and a one-month-old baby son, and her father, prominent peasant leader Randall Echanis, had been murdered by state agents in Manila in August that year.

Amanda Echanis was working as an organizer of Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women in Cagayan.

The arrest of Echanis was a classic case of “reyd-tanim-kulong” (raid-plant-detain), a scheme state forces use against activists. The charge of illegal possession of firearms or explosives is non bailable.

Echanis’ legal team, from the Center for Genuine Agrarian Reform (STRA), proved that the bag of guns and explosives used against her was found in a room which was not even used by Echanis and her child.

Many organizations and individuals formed the Free Amanda Echanis campaign to demand her release.

While in detention, Echanis released a poetry collection and was featured in an award-winning documentary, Bloom Where You Are Planted.

Already a graduate of the Philippine High School for the Arts, she enrolled in 2023 at the University of the Philippines as a creative writing student. She made history in 2025 as the first political prisoner to be elected to UP Diliman’s student council. She topped the race with over 4,800 votes.

Congress Representative Sarah Elagao of the Gabriela Women’s Party said, “Her five years in jail based on fabricated cases reflects the systematic use—and wielding—of our laws to silence the voices of women who stand firm and fight for land, human rights, justice, the fight against corruption, and for nationalist change.”

For further comment: Peter Murphy +61 418 312 301

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.