KARAPATAN: Sara Duterte, AFP mercenaries are part of Marcos’ fascist Uniteam
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS RELEASE
25 April 2026
Reference: Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general, 09173162831
KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580
KARAPATAN: Sara Duterte, AFP mercenaries are part of Marcos’ fascist Uniteam
KARAPATAN denounced the statements of Vice President Sara Duterte, daughter of war criminal Rodrigo Duterte, and acts of members of a certain organization composed of mercenaries of the Armed Forces of the Philippines regarding the April 19, 2026 incident in Toboso, Negros Occidental.
“Incapable of any understanding of or respect for human rights and international humanitarian law, Duterte and these mercenaries celebrate the killing of nineteen individuals to justify the repetition of the older Duterte’s murderous policies, to suck up to the fascist institutions of the AFP and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), and to play their common role with the Marcos Jr. regime’s Uniteam in terrorizing communities,” said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay.
She referenced the statement yesterday, April 25, of Sara Duterte, as well as reports on actions of AFP mercenaries posing as members of certain AFP-backed organizations harassing families of those killed and allegedly conducting a “fact-finding mission” in Toboso. “These are desperate acts meant to cover up the crimes committed by the military units in the said community,” Palabay added.
According to KARAPATAN’s documentation, at least 73 individuals, majority are peasants, have been killed in Negros Island during the Duterte administration, including incidents in three documented massacres committed by soldiers and three cycles of synchronized police operations. It was Duterte who green-lighted Memorandum Order No. 32, which authorized the increased military and police deployment in Negros, Bicol and Samar. Duterte also set up the NTF-ELCAC via Executive Order No. 70, which Marcos continues to helm under his administration.
“KARAPATAN’s human rights workers Elisa Badayos, Zara Alvarez, lawyer Benjamin Ramos, and Bernardino ‘Toto’ Patigas were among the victims of extrajudicial killings under Duterte. Like those recently killed in Toboso, they were villified and persecuted even after their killings, like the fate of the 19 who were recently possibly massacred in Toboso town,” Palabay said.
Under Marcos Jr., 48 individuals, majority are peasants, have been killed by State agents from July 2022 to November 2025. At least three massacres, involving 13 individuals, were committed.
The 19 who were killed on April 19, 2026 are the latest victims, including Roger Fabillar and Rene Villarin Sr., who were acknowledged as New People’s Army fighters by the NPA command in Negros and/or their families; Negros-based community journalist and poet RJ Ledesma; UP Diliman student leader Alyssa Alano; peasant organizers Maureen Santuyo and Errol Wendel; and Filipino-American activists Lyle Prijoles and Kai Sorem.
“Both the Duterte and Marcos Jr. regimes have the same tired old narrative – that those killed by their men in uniform fought or fired back, and that they deserved to be killed. They stage the scenes of incidents and cover-up their crimes by spreading fear and terror in communities. This regime of President Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte seems a solid Uniteam when it comes to the commission of human rights violations and war crimes,” KARAPATAN said.
PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publi...@karapatan.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
#1 Maaralin corner Matatag Sts., Central District
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. It was established in 1995.