“These attacks are grossly disproportionate and the AFP knew fully well and yet deliberately ignored that Mangyan-Iraya children and civilian families would be in the areas they were bombing.”
SAN PABLO CITY – The National Democratic Front of the Philippines said that the Armed Forces of the Philippines violated the principles of “distinction, proportionality, and precaution” enshrined in international humanitarian law during the military operations in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro on January 1.
Various groups have called out the AFP following their bombing operation in the area, January 1, claiming that the military committed “war crimes” in the area.
Human rights alliance Karapatan said that at least four combat battalions were deployed on the ground, while four attack helicopters dropped at least 12 bombs and conducted indiscriminate and continuous strafing.
According to reports, at least 3 Mangyan-Iraya children were killed while their mother was injured. At least 769 people were also forced to flee from the area. Another civilian, student researcher Jerlyn Rose Doydora, also died during the attacks, while another, Filipino-American youth activist Chantal Anicoche, was abducted by the military and is currently in their custody.
Coni Ledesma, spokesperson for the NDFP Special Office for the Protection of Children said, “These attacks are grossly disproportionate and the AFP knew fully well and yet deliberately ignored that Mangyan-Iraya children and civilian families would be in the areas they were bombing.”
Ledesma also stressed that the civilian casualties and the AFP’s refusal to release Anicoche expose the military’s counter-insurgency operations as “in essence indiscriminate attacks on civilians.”
What laws were violated?
The Philippine government is signatory to multiple agreements governing acceptable conduct in warfare, including the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocols. The Philippine government incorporated these obligations through Republic Act 9851, or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity. It also signed in 1998 the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, which particularly concerns the ongoing armed conflict between the government and the communist revolutionary movement led by the Communist Party of the Philippines.
RA 9851 specifically defines “intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population” and “attacking or bombarding by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not military objectives” as specific violations of international humanitarian law. Likewise, the CARHRIHL specifically protects the rights of civilians to be distinguished from armed combatants.
The 1977 Additional Protocols meanwhile prohibits the use of excessive force “in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated” in the conduct of hostilities where civilian casualties may be expected. Article 57(1) of Additional Protocol I also codifies the principle of taking precautions in minimizing harm against non-military targets.
De facto martial law
The NDFP stated that the January 1 bombing was only the latest in a long list of military attacks in Mindoro. “Since the time of war criminal Gen. Jovito Palparan,” Ledesma said, “Mindoro Island has been turned into a permanent killing field, with the 203rd [Infantry Brigade] at the center of systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.”
She stressed that indigenous Mangyan communities have been the target of bombings, forced evacuations, blockades, military occupation, harassment, and other crimes for years. Under the current Marcos Jr. administration, Ledesma said that Mindoro was “effectively under de facto martial law.”
Indigenous people’s rights group Katribu also said that the Cabacao bombing was “part of a sustained pattern of state attacks against the Mangyan of Mindoro.” They noted that the bombings followed the December 23 arrest of former Abra de Ilog mayoral candidate and environmental advocate Ramon Alcantara, and the abduction and torture of Mangyan-Iraya farmer Dolores Mariano Solangon.
Karapatan noted that there are at least 16,733 documented cases of human rights violations in Mindoro in 2025 alone. The group also denounced the recent obstruction of the fact-finding mission meant to investigate the situation in Abra de Ilog, calling it a “deliberate effort to conceal violations.”
Calls to end militarization in Mindoro have been raised by multiple organizations. “We demand the immediate pullout of military forces from Mangyan ancestral lands and the unhampered entry of humanitarian aid, fact-finding missions, and independent investigators into the affected communities,” Katribu said in their statement.
Ledesma also said that the NDFP will continue to “monitor, document, and expose” IHL and children’s rights violations in Mindoro, while pursuing “all available avenues to hold perpetrators accountable.” (RVO)
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