Protesters also briefly confronted Consul-General Senen T. Mangalile as he was leaving the consulate.
MANILA — Filipino-American community organizations rallied outside the Philippine Consulate in New York City to demand the release of youth activist Chantal Anicoche.
Anicoche, 25, remains in military custody after going missing amid aerial bombings and strafing operations in Occidental Mindoro on January 1. A Filipino-American, she is a recent BS Psychology graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). She is a youth community organizer who has worked with rural communities affected by environmental disasters, including Mangyan communities, following successive typhoons that devastated parts of the Philippines last year.
She was separated from the community she was working with after the military launched an offensive in the area. The same operations reportedly killed three Mangyan children, injured their mother, forcibly displaced 188 families, and resulted in the deaths of at least two student researchers.
Read: Philippine military kicks off year with terror campaign in Mindoro, kills 4, injures 1
On January 8, the 203rd Infantry Brigade “Bantay Kapayapaan,” under Brig. Gen. Melencio Ragudo, released footage of Anicoche, claiming that soldiers found her hiding in a hole about 500 meters from the site of the January 1 encounter.
Contributed photo
International Filipino organizations believe Anicoche surfaced only after groups like BAYAN International and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) launched an international campaign called “Surface Chantal.”
“While it is a relief to know that she is alive, we know that she is not safe in the hands of the military,” said Cris Hilo of Gabriela New York. “It was the power of our collective action that forced the Philippine government to surface them,” she said, adding that they are now calling for her safe return without being subjected to torture, harassment, indimidation, and interrogation.
International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP)-United States Chairperson Brandon Lee also urged the public to continue pressing for Anicoche’s release from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Lee, who has been repeatedly red-tagged and harassed by the AFP and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) for his environmental and indigenous rights advocacy, warned that the military may attempt to vilify Anicoche, similar to what he experienced following his attempted assassination by suspected state forces on August 6, 2019.
“I urge you to see through their lies, to hold steadfast, and that our support will actually help Chantal see her family and friends again. We demand that the AFP release Chantal. Activism is not a crime,” Lee said.
Prior to the protest, the organizations submitted a letter to the consulate requesting a meeting and urging the Philippine government to ensure Anicoche’s safe release. The letter also raised alarm over what they described as a violent military campaign against the indigenous Mangyan-Iraya communities in Mindoro.
Contributed photo
Protesters also briefly confronted Consul-General Senen T. Mangalile as he was leaving the consulate. Mangalile acknowledged receipt of the letter and said that he would forward it to authorities in the Philippines.
“As long as our people are poor, as long as our people remain landless, as long as our people are forced to go overseas only to be exploited further, there will only be more Chantals who will continue to resist in the belly of the beast and those who choose to go back home to fight alongside our people to achieve genuine freedom and democracy,” said Winnie Payabyab of BAYAN USA Northeast. “We demand the military out of Mindoro and an end to the de facto martial rule terrorizing the people. We demand an end to US military funding, from our tax dollars, for the Marcos regime’s crimes against the people.” (DAA)
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