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.

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!