Since the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP’s)
New Years Day bombings, massacre and the illegal detention
of Chantal Anicoche, the AFP has launched a social media
campaign to attempt to divert attention from their massive
human rights abuses.
Aided by the National Task Force
to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, the AFP is promoting
false narratives about “rescuing” Chantal Anicoche,
blatantly denying the massive violations of international
humanitarian law (IHL) that resulting from its January 1
bombings in Mindoro, and actively attacking social media
accounts of human rights groups – including ICHRP. The AFP
Southern Luzon Command even openly called ICHRP statements
on the bombings “fake news.” If indeed Ms. Anicoche has
been “rescued” by the AFP, why does she remain in
military custody, and why has she been denied access to
humanitarian support?
“The Philippine government is
once again attempting to whitewash its rotten record of
violations of IHL by attacking our social media accounts
with a disinformation blitz. The Philippine government is
using its trolls and false narrative in an attempt to hide
its bloody crimes against the Filipino people in Abra de
Ilog, Mindoro Occidental,” said ICHRP Chairperson, Peter
Murphy.
The January 1st bombings – which occurred
despite the unilateral ceasefire declared by the New
People’s Army that AFP was claiming to attack – resulted
in the deaths of three Mangyan-Iraya indigenous children and
two youth, including Jerlyn Rose Doydora, a researcher from
a university in Manila. The bombs also destroyed crops,
farmland, and reportedly killed two cows and three carabaos,
severely affecting the agricultural livelihood of the
Mangyan indigenous people. According to local government
data, 769 individuals were forcibly displaced and evacuated
to a local high school.
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On January 5, human rights
groups Karapatan Southern Tagalog reported that Anicoche was
missing and international concern began to grow. On January
7, the AFP’s 203rd Infantry Brigade released videos
surfacing Chantal Anicoche. In the videos she appeared
scared and under duress as soldiers seemingly found,
surrounded, and interrogated her before bringing her to the
camp of the 76th Infantry Battalion.
According to the
narrative of the AFP, all of this occurred on January 7,
some six days after the military attack and occupation of
Abra de Ilog.
Meanwhile, the AFP and the Marcos Jr
government have refused to allow numerous humanitarian
missions and independent observers, including Congressional
Representative Antonio Tinio, access to
Anicoche.
“It’s plausible that rather than finding
her on January 7, the military had already taken her during
their bombing and ground operations a week earlier. In
either event, we can only imagine the suffering and abuse
she is undergoing at the hands of the AFP,” said
Murphy.
The strategic whitewashing of IHL violations
by the AFP has been ongoing under the Marcos Jr regime, as
is the ongoing civil war and counterinsurgency policy that
continues and intensifies in many areas of the country.
According to Murphy, “the false narratives and trolling of
ICHRP are a smokescreen to whitewash all the war crimes of
the Marcos government”.
“If the Marcos government
were serious about IHL, they would rejoin the International
Criminal Court and submit to independent investigation of
the crimes of bombing of civilians, bombing and occupation
of schools, and the ongoing murder of civilian
non-combatants. They would also immediately release Ms
Anicoche,” Murphy
concluded.
