Original published March 1, 2022

On February 28, 2022, at around 8:00 PM Agnes Mesina, Makabayan Cagayan Valley coordinator, was illegally arrested in Aparri, Cagayan, by elements of the Philippine National Police, allegedly for murder charges. Fabricated charges of murder at Tagum Regional Trial Court Branch 30 in Davao del Norte against Mesina, Cordillera Peoples Alliance Chairperson Windel Bolinget and four others were already dismissed on July 21, 2021.

Earlier, Mesina was with a group led by United Church of Christ in the Philippines for a Community Outreach Mercy Mission to Brgy. Sta Clara, Gonzaga, Cagayan, in the Cagayan Valley region when they were flagged down and blocked in a checkpoint by elements of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). People blocking them held tarpaulins bearing her name and pictures together with the 4th nominee of Anakpawis Partylist, Isabelo Adviento. The two were accused as terrorists. There were reports that the two were subjected to red-taggings.

Late in the night of February 28, Ms Mesina was released because the arrest warrant was already dismissed, and she was taken to a hospital for a medical check up.

According to some residents, some of those who led the blockade were barangay officials from other barangays. The perpetrators harassed the Mercy Mission members, and they were not allowed to enter the Brgy Sta Clara area, thus denying humanitarian aid to the indigenous community. The officials took pictures of the team members, their vaccination cards and their vehicles. They were tailed by motorcycle riding men when they left the checkpoint.

The Community Outreach Mercy Mission was scheduled to bring humanitarian aid such as relief goods and psychosocial services to the indigenous people (Agta) in the area who were affected by the January 29, 2022, indiscriminate aerial bombing and strafing incident in Gonzaga. This illegal arrest of a Makabayan Bloc regional coordinator is harassment of government critics in the national election campaign period.

Original published March 1, 2022

Five individuals including two volunteer teachers of the Save Our Schools Network, were killed at Brgy. Andap, New Bataan, Davao de Oro, Mindanao, the Philippines by elements of the 1001st Infantry Brigade of the 10th Infantry Division (ID), Philippine Army. These five victims were volunteer teachers Chad Booc and Gelejurain Ngujo II, community health worker Elgyn Balonga and two community volunteers as drivers.

Around 9:30 PM on February 23, 2022, the victims were travelling on their way back to Davao City after conducting field research at New Bataan, Davao de Oro. Elgyn Balonga was able to send a text message asking her family to fetch them. This was the last known contact with the group. On February 25 the 10th Infantry Division posted a press release on their official Facebook page falsely claiming that the five were killed in an alleged encounter and accusing them as New People’s Army fighters. However, information from locals said no encounter took place in the area. The families of the victims learned about the gruesome incident on February 25 because of the press release of the 10th ID.

Chad Booc was a cum laude graduate from University of the Philippines-Diliman with a degree in Computer Science. He was also an environmental advocate, a youth leader and a mentor to fellow youth who are calling for climate action. He became a volunteer teacher in the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (Alcadev) in Surigao del Sur in 2016. In 2020, he joined Lumad students and datus in Cebu where they sought sanctuary in one of the retreat houses of University of San Carlos-Talamban campus. On February 15, 2021, authorities raided the retreat house and arrested Booc and six others. Police filed trumped up charges against them which were eventually dismissed by the court. He was one of the petitioners against the Anti-Terrorism Law.

Gelejurain Ngujo II was a graduate of Liceo de Davao – Briz Campus in Tagum City with a degree in Secondary Education majoring in English. After graduation, he became a teacher in Community Technical College of Southeastern Mindanao (CTCSM). In 2018, he volunteered to become a teacher for the Bakwit School in Manila and then in Cebu in 2019 and 2020. He was also subjected to threats and intimidation for his work as a volunteer teacher for the Lumad school.

Balonga was a community health worker who served in the United Church of Christ in the Philippines-Haran, a Lumad sanctuary in Davao City, from 2013 to 2018. She facilitated medical students for their internship in UCCP Haran. She was also active in numerous medical missions in remote areas such as Talaingod and Kapalong, Davao del Norte.

Throughout their years of service, Chad, Jurain, and Elgyn had been subjected to threats, harassment, and intimidation, including death threats, red-tagging and terror-tagging, and surveillance, and were a focus of the National Task Force to end Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

Their remains were paraded as trophies, and at this stage the families of the five victims have not been able to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones.

We condemn the bloody massacre of the New Bataan 5 Massacre as a violation of human rights and International Humanitarian Law, call for an immediate and impartial investigation to identify the perpetrators who should then be prosecuted, and call for the respectful return of the victims’ remains to their families. This incident demonstrates the intensified state repression in the Philippines.

February 24, 2022
Press Release

“We welcome and commend the Resolution of the European Parliament a week ago calling for international monitoring of the current Presidential Election Campaign in the Philippines, and urging other parliaments and governments to follow the lead given in this resolution,” said Mr. Peter Murphy, spokesperson for the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines today.

“This resolution was carried by a massive majority of Euro MPs, with 627 votes in favor, 26 against, and 31 abstentions, indicating support from almost all political tendencies. Yet, the Philippine and Indonesian governments denounced it as interference in the election process,” said Murphy.

Following a thorough summary of the many human rights violations documented under President Duterte, the resolution called:

“on the Philippine authorities to step up their efforts to ensure fair and free elections and a non-toxic environment for on- and offline campaigning; regrets, in this context, that the Philippine authorities have not invited the EU to conduct an election observation mission; calls on the Government of the Philippines to ensure a safe, free and fair electoral campaign and to take measures to ensure access for all to electoral resources; calls on the EU Delegation and EU Member States’ representations to support sending an international electoral mission and give their full support to independent local election observers, to regularly meet with them and to closely follow up on any incidents reported during the election campaign, including by addressing these concerns directly with the Philippine authorities.”

The parliament urged the European Commission to set a timeframe for the temporary removal of the General System of Preferences Plus from imports from the Philippines unless the human rights situation improved, and urged all member States to cease supplying weapons to the Philippines.

“ICHRP is organizing its own International Observer Mission for these important elections, following the thorough Investigate PH reporting on human rights violations in the Philippines last year,” said Murphy. “Our first bulletin will be issued on March 1.”

Contact: Peter Murphy +61 418 312 301

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