On January 1st, as families came together to celebrate the new year, the morning was harshly disrupted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) who rained down bombs on an indigenous community in Abra de Ilog in Occidental Mindoro.
Over the course of six hours, 12 bombs were dropped by attack helicopters in the sky along with hours of aerial strafing, or gunfire shot from a helicopter or plane onto the ground. Human rights group Karapatan Southern Tagalog and Edre Olalia, president of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, reported that the bombing killed 3 indigenous Mangyan children, injured their mother, as well as 2 student researchers who were in the area. 188 families were also displaced.
UMBC alum and Filipino-American community leader Chantal Anicoche, who decided to return to her homeland to conduct relief aid amongst the indigenous peoples of Mindoro in the midst of devastating typhoons, went missing after the bombing according to the Baltimore Banner.
Upon hearing the news on January 5th, grassroots Filipino organizations and allies across the world erupted into action and launched a campaign to uncover her status and immediately allow humanitarian organizations access to the affected area to investigate the impacts of the AFP’s indiscriminate attack against a civilian community.
After 3 days of constant pressure with a social media post that spread like wildfire across the UMBC community and internationally, she resurfaced on January 8th through a Facebook video posted by the 203rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippines.
She was subsequently taken to a military camp where she was held for at least 3 weeks without officially stated charges, something that lawyer Ephraim Cortez said was “illegal” because “persons detained have to be charged or released within 12 to 36 hours.” The AFP claimed that she was there “voluntarily” to receive medical treatment.
The UMBC community rose to action for Anicoche, who is a Class of 2023 Psychology graduate. While in college, she was an active member of the Filipino American Student Association and worked in the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery. Through interviews collected by news sources, friends describe her as “the life of the party and very passionate, particularly about humanitarian issues in the Philippines.”
For years, the Philippines has been on multiple lists for the most dangerous places in the world for press freedom, environmental advocates, and human rights defenders due to its practice of “red-tagging” or “terror-tagging” marginalized communities and those critical of its government to justify imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, killings, and more.
One high-profile case was of environmental advocates Jhed Tamano and Jonila Castro who were abducted by the AFP in September 2023 and held in detention with no information to the public about their whereabouts until mass pressure surfaced. The AFP forced them to sign statements saying they were “surrendered insurrectionists” and presented them at a press conference. But instead of following the script they had forced on them, they told the truth about their abduction and were released soon after due to public outcry. In a video posted by Malaya Movement USA, Jonila shared that “[The AFP] said they would bury me and Jhed [if we did not cooperate]. They said our birthdays will also become our death day because our birthdays are coming up that month.”
One of Chantal’s friends in a video interview shared, “it’s a little worrying, because I don’t really believe that she’s voluntarily staying there, and it makes me a little bit more concerned about what her true conditions are.”
UMBC organizations and friends of Anicoche took many different kinds of actions over winter break to raise awareness about the alum and of the humanitarian crisis in the Philippines and on the island of Mindoro caused by the militarization of the indigenous population resisting large-scale mining projects. One of the biggest community events brought out over 100 UMBC students, alumni, and other community members to take part in dancing tinikling, a cultural dance that Chantal participated in while with FASA, writing letters to Chantal and the indigenous people of Mindoro, and writing letters to the offices of Senator Chris Van Hollen, Kweisi Mfume, and more to garner their attention.
On January 30th, nearly a month after the New Years Day bombing, the 2nd ID announced that Anicoche would be released and returned from the Philippines to the U.S. on an order to leave.
Right after her departure, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), an arm of the Philippine government, claimed that Anicoche and the organizations she associated with are “affiliated with terrorist groups.”
The usage of the term “terrorism” has been used flexibly by the Philippine and U.S. states to justify acts of impunity, say organizations such as BAYAN USA. They cite how in the U.S., recent protesters against ICE have also been referred to as “domestic terrorists” by members of the administration like Kristi Noem. This even includes calling citizens who were shot and killed by ICE in recent months as “terrorists,” such as Alex Pretti. By labelling activists such as Chantal and those who conduct similar work to her as “terrorists” human rights organizations say it distracts both governments from taking accountability.
Upon her arrival in the U.S., Senator Van Hollen released a statement saying, “I’ve spoken with Chantal and am pleased that she is back home and safe with her family. I’m grateful to all those in our communities for their efforts in supporting her return.” Friends of Chantal have also shared similar sentiments for her return, but also their concern that other activists and grassroots organizations could face heightened repression due to these accusations.
A community member and friend expressed, “While we’re glad she’s home, we’re afraid that she can’t be safe with this target on her back.
It’s scary to think that people are being detained and even killed in some cases because they’re standing up for the oppressed and fighting for justice.
There’s still a lot more work to do to band together as a community and make sure that what happened on New Year’s Day doesn’t happen again.”
Diane Esteban is a junior Media and Communication Studies major, and a news writer for The Retriever.
Contact Diane at mesteba1@umbc.edu
