KARAPATAN condemns killing of woman farmer-leader in Negros
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS RELEASE
27 December 2025
Reference: Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general, 09173162831
KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580
KARAPATAN condemns killing of woman farmer-leader in Negros
Human rights alliance KARAPATAN strongly condemned the killing of Warlita Jimenez, a 55-year-old woman farmer-leader, on December 23 in Sitio Makilo, Barangay Camansi, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.
“While families marked the Christmas season and gathered in celebration, and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. spews words of hypocrisy to ‘not to forget the poor, the sick, victims of calamities, and marginalized sectors of society,’ his state forces once again spilled blood in Negros. This is the Marcos Jr. regime’s so-called national security agenda – one that is steeped in state terror and violence, even during the holidays,” said Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general.
According to accounts from the victim’s family, two armed men wearing bonnets forcibly broke into Jimenez’s home at around 11:00 p.m., barged into her bedroom, and shot her four times, killing her instantly. Rights groups September 21 Movement–South Negros (S21M) and Human Rights Advocates in Negros (HRAN) condemned the killing and joined the Jimenez family in calling for justice.
“The murder of Warlita Jimenez is part of a long and bloody pattern of state-sponsored violence in Negros, where entire families are hunted down, tortured, and killed,” Palabay said.
Warlita Jimenez was a local leader of a farmers’ organization in Barangay Camansi. She was the wife of Joseph Jimenez, another farmer-leader who was captured and summarily executed by the military’s 15th Infantry Battalion on November 30, 2022, alongside Ericson Acosta, a consultant of the National Democratic Front (NDF) in Negros.
“We are enraged how state terror in Negros target whole of families and communities. The killings are clearly not done in random or unplanned, as the families had become targets of malicious tagging, harassment and surveillance, right before they were killed,” said Palabay.
Since the killing of her husband, Warlita Jimenez had been subjected to relentless harassment by state forces. She was repeatedly summoned to barangay offices and pressured to ‘surrender’ as an alleged member of the New People’s Army (NPA). She was also targeted for her active and principled struggle to secure land rights for their farmers’ association in Barangay Camansi.
“We also remember the Fausto family, who were massacred in 2023, not sparing their children. And this also happened under the Marcos Jr. regime,” added Palabay. The Faustos, Rolly, his wife Emelda and their sons Ben, 14 and Ravin were killed in their hut in Sitio Kangkiling, Barangay Buenavista, Himamaylan City on the night of June 14, 2023. The couple had repeatedly been red-tagged by the military for their involvement in a peasant organization.
According to KARAPATAN, since the imposition of Martial Order No. 32 (MO32), the island of Negros has been placed under militarization. Killings, illegal arrests, enforced disappearances, and acts of torture have continued unabated. Grave human rights violations intensified under the Duterte regime and are now being systematically continued and escalated under Ferdinand Marcos Jr. KARAPATAN documented at least 51 peasants who have been victims of extrajudicial killings in Negros under Marcos Jr., from July 2022 to November 2025.
"The killing of Warlita Jimenez once again lays bare the real face of Marcos Jr.’s so-called “National Security Program,” its counter-insurgency program that equates dissent with terrorism. The Marcos Jr. regime funnels millions of funds to the military and police to kill, to arrest, to harass, and torture persons, whether they are members of the New People’s Army or unarmed civilians. It is the fascist reign of the state that has cost lives and threatened many. It is the very reason why people resist and fight back,” said Palabay.
In May 2025, Marcos Jr. issued the National Action Plan for Unity, Peace and Development (NAP-UPD), the blueprint of crushing dissent nationwide. With the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) as the lead implementing body of the NAP-UPD, the regime has mobilized the full machinery of the state to profile activists, red-tag civilians, harass communities, and coerce individuals to ‘surrender’ as supposed rebels.
KARAPATAN calls for an independent and impartial investigation into the killing of Warlita Jimenez and all EJKs in Negros, the dismantling of NTF-ELCAC, the scrapping of the NAP-UPD, and the immediate end to militarization in the island.
“Justice for Warlita Jimenez! Stop the killings!” KARAPATAN said.
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KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties. It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign.