By Hannah Keziah Agustin
Bulatlat.com
NEW YORK CITY — Community members gather for an indignation rally and vigil protest led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Northeast, Anakbayan Queens, and Malaya New York in front of the Philippine Consulate in New York City on Monday, April 27 following the massacre of the Toboso 19.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) claimed that what transpired on April 19 was an armed encounter with members of the New People’s Army.
However, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has released a list of its members who died on that day where only 10 of the 19 individuals were NPAs and the rest are civilian including two minors.
Read: Investigations into Toboso killings sought
Among the slain are Filipino-American activists Lyle Prijoles and Kai Sorem, journalist and poet RJ Ledesma, student leader Alyssa Alano, and peasant advocates Maureen Santuyo and Errol Wendel.
In response to this, community members brought their grief and agitation about the Philippine government’s fascist attacks on its people to the Philippine Consulate.
More than 90 people showed up, many carrying flowers and placards that said “US Out of the Philippines” and “Return Home and Serve the People” among others.
“We are here to show the Philippine armed forces and government that we will continue to struggle in the footsteps of those they stole from us,” said Winnie Payabyab of Bayan-USA Northeast. “It is not a crime to stand with our people back home, especially the most exploited and oppressed. It is a right and responsibility.”
Payabyab, a friend of Prijoles, said that he taught her that bravery does not always mean fearlessness but doing something even when scared because of who they do it for.
Payabyab called on the people to honor the departed by channeling their bravery to the struggle for genuine freedom and democracy in the Philippines.
“As long as there is landlessness, joblessness, and endless corruption, more and more people will not only take up national democracy as a solution to their problems but armed struggle as the only means to achieve a life of dignity for the everyday Filipino,” she said.
Prijoles was a member of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines-US (ICHRP-US) Country Council. He returned to the Philippines to live with peasant communities in Negros and learn first-hand their daily hardships and experiences under state repression.
Ledesma chose to bear witness to this in his journalistic work, despite local activists being killed, jailed, and forced to flee the country.
Xue Hong of the New York Committee of Human Rights of the Philippines said, “Bearing witness to all of this, RJ’s choice to remain, to administer to the bodies, the paperwork, the narrative and the other aftermaths, in an ever-deepening commitment to the peoples’ struggle is nothing short of saintly.
“He recognized the responsibility to hold together the movement despite all the ruptures created by the state. And he did this with a principled gentleness and the sensibility of a poet, accepting all the risks and consequences with grace,” Hong said.
Salvencio Aguinaldo of Malaya NY shared about his experience being with Ledesma o Negros Island. “You not only translated the most horrific experiences of the Negrosanon people to us, but also sang karaoke and deliriously danced with us after a long day,” he said.
Aguinaldo said Ledesma taught him about the plight of farmers in Negros and also took the time to sit perfectly still as children played with and put in a million little ponytails on his hair.
“RJ consciously chose to serve the people by being on the ground, immersing himself with the most oppressed Filipinos on his island, and uplifting their stories every day. We love you and will never forget you,” he said.
Gianna Bona of the International Migrants Alliance sang “Dapat Bawiin”, a song about peasant farmers calling for their land to be given back.
She reminisced about singing it with Sorem at the International Migrants Alliance General Assembly in Nepal in October last year.
Sorem was a founding member of Anakbayan South Seattle. A youth activist and cultural worker, she joined the Anakbayan USA exposure trip in 2025 where she integrated with peasants and learned about their struggle.
She returned this year to learn more from the resistance and courage of farmers in Negros Occidental.
“Your losses, your grief, and your rage are ours. And so is your resolve and dedication for seeking justice for not only those victims who were massacred in Negros, but for all those who were persecuted by the NTF-ELCAC [National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict], and for all the Filipino masses,” shared a spokesperson for Juventud Unida por la Independencia (JUPI) Brooklyn, a Puerto Rican youth mass organization fighting for national liberation in Puerto Rico.
In the same vein, a spokesperson from Adolfina, a Puerto Rican women’s organization, said that we must not let the deaths of our comrades sway us from furthering the struggle against US-backed imperialism and fascism.
“They did not die in vain. For the struggle, we lay our lives down for our people and our homeland.”
Other allied organizations like Stop Operation Kagar Coalition (India) and Nodutdol (Korea) also came to stand in solidarity with the Philippine liberation movement.
In closing, members of Anakbayan Queens performed “Lagi Ko Kayong Kasama”, a poem by Jose Maria Sison set to music by Kai Sorem and other Anakbayan South Seattle members, honoring the martyrs’ undying contribution to the Philippine National Democratic movement. (AMU, JDS)
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