MANILA – Progressive groups criticized Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro’s rejection of the fact-finding mission’s findings which confirmed that at least six of the 19 people killed in Toboso, Negros Occidental were civilians.
Teodoro defended the military operation where two of the 19 people killed were also minors. The fact-finding mission team said that they got testimonies from locals that the six people they met were unarmed. They were community journalist RJ Ledesma, University of the Philippines-Diliman student leader Alyssa Alano, peasant organizers Maureen Santuyo and Errol Wendel and two Filipino American activists Kai Sorem and Lyle Prijoles.
In media interviews, Teodoro said that there is no proof to the human rights groups’ claims that the six killed were civilians. He stressed that the military operation was legitimate.
In a statement, Karapatan Deputy Secretary General Maria Sol Taule lambasted Teodoro saying that he took the story of the Armed Forces of the Philippines as gospel truth when it said that all 19 people killed in Toboso, Negros Occidental were combatants.
“We walked for nearly three hours to speak with the residents of Toboso. We met them face to face and interviewed them ourselves. Their testimonies were clear: soldiers entered their homes, pointed guns at them, and rained bullets on their communities,” Taule said.
She said residents described the six as good people who lived among them, listened to their issues on land and livelihood, helped them, and were never once seen carrying firearms.
“So the question, Mr. Teodoro, is this: why should we believe your soldiers? Try going to Toboso first,” Taule said.
Taule was among the more than 100 individuals from various organizations and fields who participated in the fact-finding mission.
‘Encouraging further atrocities’
In a statement, human rights group Karapatan lambasted Teodoro’s statement and outright rejection of peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), saying that his position “further entrenches the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration’s failed militarist approach that has resulted in more killings, displacement, red-tagging, and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law especially in rural communities.”
Karapatan’s Secretary-General Cristina Palabay said that Teodoro’s pronouncements encourage further atrocities by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), “particularly amid public outrage over recent incidents including the Negros 19 massacre and continuing attacks against civilians, activists, and government critics.”
“Teodoro’s insistence on speaking for the AFP to counter so-called ‘misinformation’ is deeply alarming, especially when independent fact-finding missions, forensic examinations, and testimonies from affected communities point to grave abuses that demand impartial investigation and accountability,” Palabay said.
She called Teodoro’s rejection of peace talks as “hypocrisy,” noting that the Marcos, Jr. administration signed a joint communiqué in 2023 with the NDFP affirming commitments to peace, reconciliation, and unity.
“Now, Teodoro seeks to sabotage even those limited commitments by insisting that military suppression is the only path forward,” Palabay said.
In a statement, ACT Teachers’ Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio said that Teodoro’s insistence that all those killed were NPA “shows a refusal to confront the truth and a willingness to justify any killing as long as the military says so.”
“That is not accountability. That is impunity dressed up as national security,” Tinio said in a statement.
“Instead of addressing the roots of the conflict—landlessness, poverty, exploitation, lack of services—this kind of rabid militarism treats death as policy and dissent as a target,” he said.
Tinio stressed that Teodoro’s rhetoric and high-profile presence in Negros, including activities that project celebration and solidarity with combat units, can be interpreted on the ground as a green light for further aggressive operations that endanger civilians.
Tinio was among the delegates of the fact-finding mission in Toboso, Negros Occidental on May 14.
‘Enabler of state terrorism’
Meanwhile, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said that Teodoro exposed himself as an enabler of state terrorism. The group said that Teodoro will be held accountable not only for working closely with the military to reject the resumption of peace talks, but also for allegedly helping cover up the AFP’s crimes in Negros and enforcing the US-backed counterinsurgency program.
“During the bloody ‘war on drugs,’ Duterte and his subordinates insisted that those killed by the police were drug lords and drug pushers, despite the countless deaths of innocent civilians in urban poor communities. This is similar to the narrative of Teodoro and the AFP denying the deaths of civilians and the atrocities perpetrated by state troops in Negros,” Bayan said.
The New People’s Army (NPA) has released names of the killed NPA fighters days after the April 19 incident in Toboso. The group said that nine of them were civilians, including the six as well as the two minors and another one named Roel Sabillo.
In a press conference last week by the AFP, MGen. Michael Samson said that “it is difficult to distinguish the target during an encounter.”
In reaction, Taule said, “Ang sinungaling nahuhuli sa bibig. Watch Mgen. Michael Samson admitted during their very own press conference earlier that it is difficult to distinguish their target.
Bayan said that Teodoro and the Marcos, Jr. administration should remember that former President Rodrigo Duterte once showed the same arrogance and oversaw years of bloodshed, but is now detained in The Hague and facing trial for crimes against humanity.
Palabay said that the roots of armed conflict cannot be resolved through state terror. She said that the government must comply with previously signed agreements such as the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) signed by both the Philippine government and the NDFP and address the address the roots of the armed conflict, including landlessness, poverty, and political repression.
“At the same time, there must be accountability for the AFP’s violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, including extrajudicial killings, attacks on civilians, enforced disappearances, torture, and the vilification of humanitarian and fact-finding initiatives. Peace cannot be built on impunity and state violence,” she said. (DAA)
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