The blatant violation of both Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law by the military forces of the Marcos regime on the first day of the New Year by massive bombing, strafing and relentless battalions-sized attacks resulting in the death of three children and a young researcher has been condemned by progressive groups in the Philippines and abroad.

Coni Ledesma, Head of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Special Office for the Protection of Children stated that “there is no military, legal nor moral justification for the relentless bombardment” that killed children and terrorized entire communities. She said that these are war crimes and held the 203rd IB and Marcos Jr., their commander-in-chief, directly responsible.

Ledesma emphasized, “We demand the immediate cessation of all AFP military operations in Mindoro, including aerial bombings, combat patrols, and so-called “clearing operations” that continue to place Mangyan communities in grave danger. The de facto state of martial law in the island must stop.”

At the end of December last year, the 203rd Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), local units of the Philippine National Police (PNP), and AFP paramilitary groups launched extensive attacks against a New People’s Army (NPA) unit who, taking advantage of the New Year ceasefire, was providing medical and other services to the indigenous Mangyan-Iraya communities in the municipality of Abra de Ilog in Occidental Mindoro. On New Years Day, January 1, four of the regime’s attack helicopters indiscriminately dropped 12 bombs and fired thousands of shots with their machine guns for hours.

Three Mangyan children were killed outright while their mother was severely wounded. A researcher-student, Jerlyn Rose Doydora, separated from her group, died of shock.

Another researcher, Chantal Anicoche from the US, went missing. The attack also destroyed the livelihood means of the residents, killed livestock, two cows and three pigs, and forced 203 families to evacuate.

NDFP-Mindoro said that Doydora and Anicoche are among those who expressed their intent to interview the indigenous people and farmers in Mindoro as well as the Red fighters of the New People’s Army (NPA). They sought to understand the masses’ concrete situation, the root causes of the armed conflict, and the genuine path towards peace. Doydora was a student of the Pamantasan ng Lunsod ng Maynila, while Anicoche was a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in the US.

According to Malaya Movement USA, Anicoche was in the Philippines “to learn from the communities that have been hit the hardest by the economic and social crisis in the Philippines.”

According to the NDFP-Mindoro, the regime’s terrorism inflicted on Abra de Ilog residents and indigenous people during the new year was only one of the countless human rights violations perpetrated by the AFP, PNP, and paramilitary auxiliaries in their communities over the years.

The Eduardo Dagli Command-NPA Batangas harshly condemned the bombing and strafing events by the military.

The command said that they happened after a unit of the Lucio de Guzman Command-NPA Mindoro succesfully eluded an attack of several battalions of the 203rd IB and the 5th Scout Ranger Battalion and, in active defense, even caused two deaths and two casualties among the enemy.

It is common practice for the regime’s forces to turn to the civilian population and spread terror after every encounter.

The regime’s violence perpetuated in Abra de Ilog is a component of the campaign of the reactionary state to push forward and guard anti-people projects with super profits for foreign capitalists by expelling thousands of farmers and indigenous Mangyans from the area.

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) points that the barbaric and overkill military operation of the AFP against a small unit of the NPA in Abra de Ilog further exposes the desperation of its commander-in-chief Marcos Jr. to end the communist rebellion in the island to hasten the entry of huge mining companies and renewable energy projects. This is the reason why widespread militarization persists in Mindoro.

Some of the planned corporate projects in Abra de Ilog are a) Mining operations of Agusan Petroleum after the government nullified the 25-year moratorium on mining in Occidental Mindoro; b) The 375-megawatt Abra de Ilog Wind Energy Project planned to operate by 2031; and c) The privatization of the Luyang Baga Cave in Brgy. Cabacao for ecotourism. The cave stands on ancestral lands of the farmers and the Mangyan-Iraya Indigenous People.

ICHRP calls for justice for all victims of the bombings perpetrated by the AFP in Mindoro. “We condemn the AFP and Marcos Jr. government for grave violations of international humanitarian law and for endangering the lives of hundreds of civilians. We call for an end to the militarization in the island of Mindoro.”

On January 14, 2026, NDFP-Southern Tagalog’s Spokesperson Patnubay de Guia reported that the regime’s 2nd Infantry Division imposed a virtual Martial Law in the community for their continuous operation to pursue the NPA unit and to prevent the entry of the missing Chantal Anicoche’s relatives, humanitarian missions, charitable organizations and human rights activists to find her.

On top of this, the 2nd IB averred they “found” Anicoche more than a week after the bombing a few meters away from the gunfight and bombing area. The staged video they made of the incident was obviously an attempt to portray themselves as humanitarians and escape responsibility for their war crimes.

De Guia added, the continued detention of Chantal by the 2nd IB in Camp Capinpin, Tanay, Rizal, is a violation of her rights and International Humanitarian Law. She was forced to sign for voluntary detention to keep her in prison. There, she will undergo daily intense pressure and mental torture by the AFP.

Progressive groups and NGOs held massive demonstrations in front of Camp Capinpin to demand Anicoche’s release from illegal detention and condemn the regime’s violation of human rights and International Humanitarian Law.