Urgent Alert
August 2, 2026
The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) calls for the immediate release of Filipino-American organizer Christina Pasion and Mangyan-Buhid community organizer Binay Serrano.
On July 30, Pasion and Serrano were illegally arrested in Cabuyao, Laguna, by combined forces of the 68th Infantry Battalion (IB) of the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police (PNP). They were receiving medical treatment at the time of their arrest. Both were baselessly linked to the New People’s Army (NPA) to justify their arrests.
Since then, Pasion remains in AFP custody. This follows several months of online attacks against Pasion by the Philippine Army.
The whereabouts of Serrano were unknown for three days following the arrest, until she was reported to be found in a prison in Occidental Mindoro today.
Pasion and Serrano’s arrest happened a day after an encounter between soldiers of the 76th IB and alleged members of the NPA in Brgy. Del Pilar, Naujan, Oriental Mindoro – an island south of Luzon, where Laguna is located. Three NPA fighters were killed and the fighting caused the forced evacuation of residents and intensified military presence in the area. A humanitarian team sent by local human rights organization Karapatan Southern Tagalog reports that four (4) military tanks were deployed in the area to intimidate residents, civilians are monitored and intimidated, and classes in schools are suspended.
The arrest of Pasion and Serrano, the forced displacement of residents, and the widespread military presence in civilian communities in Naujan constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law. These incidents follow the same IHL violations last January in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro, where bombings conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) caused the deaths of three (3) Mangyan children, the death of college student Jerlyn Doydora, and the illegal detention of Filipino-American Chantal Anicoche.
ICHRP supports and echoes the call for the immediate release of Christina Pasion and Binay Serrano. We also call for an end to the intensifying militarization and attacks against civilian peasant communities in Mindoro island.
Release Christina Pasion!
Release Binay Serrano!
End militarization in Mindoro!
