Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura

MUSICIANS PAY TRIBUTE TO TOBOSO MARTYRS IN ANTI-FASCIST, ANTI-FEUDAL FUNDRAISER

Press statement - 1 June 2026 - UMA

Yesterday, 31 May, several musicians gathered at a gig space in Makati to pay tribute to the martyrs of the Toboso massacre. The event was billed as “TOBOSOUNDS: Music for the martyrs of Toboso, Negros Occidental.”

The Defend Negros Network, alongside mass organizations of peasants like Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura; peasant advocates like Artista ng Rebolusyong Pangkultura; Pagkakaisa para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo; and Rural Women Advocates; and peasant rights defenders like Tanggol Magsasaka honored the Toboso 19 with a night of music and solidarity speeches.

The event was headlined by influential shoegaze superband Spacedog Spacecat, instrumental post-rock veterans Monochrome, feminist punk rockers Catpuke, experimental synth-wave duo Cream Flower, and dream pop act The Purest Blue.

They were joined by activist-musicians from the national democratic movement — acoustic singer-songwriter Mara Peralta and the Laguna post-rock collective gal•lows. The progressive hip-hop duo switchbitch was also present.

In between performances, co-convener of Defend Negros Helen Macasio, UMA national chairperson Ariel ‘Ka Ayik’ Casilao, Concerned Seafarers of the Philippines chairperson Xavier Bayoneta, and Altermidya national coordinator Avon Ang gave their tributes to the martyrs.

The speakers also shared some of the findings from the recently concluded national fact-finding and solidarity mission in Toboso. They noted how locals consistently described peasant organizers Errol Wendel and Mau Santuyo, student leader Alyssa Alano, poet and journalist RJ Ledesma, and migrant rights defenders Lyle Prijoles and Kai Sorem as unarmed.

“Marapat lang nating pagpugayan ang — at normalisahin ang pagpupugay sa — mga aktibista’t rebolusyonaryong naglaan ng buhay para sa pambansa-demokratikong pakikibaka, lalo sa laban ng uring magsasaka para sa tunay na reporma sa lupa,” asserted Ka Ayik.

“Ginugunita ng salusalong ito hindi lamang ang kabayanihan ng Toboso 19, kundi pati ng iba pang martir na pinatay sa Negros para sa kanilang paglilingkod sa masang Negrosanon — kabilang sina Kerima Tariman at Ericson Acosta.”

The event took place after the 40th day since the Toboso 19 were murdered on April 19. It was also just four days after National Democratic Front peace consultant Acosta’s and two days after red fighter Tariman’s birth anniversaries.

Isang kilos protesta ang nagaganap ngayon sa UP-Diliman matapos ang forum na tumalakay sa initial na resulta ng fact finding mission na isinagawa sa Toboso, Negros Occidental at sa muling pagtatatag ng Defend Negros Network.

Sa pahayag ni Ariel 'Ka Ayik' Casilao, idiniin niya ang kalagayan ng mga manggagawang bukid sa tubuhan at magsasaka sa isla ng Negros. Doon ay nagpapatuloy pa rin ang karahasan ng berdugong AFP.

"Nagluluksa pa rin kami. Ngunit kasabay nito ang patuloy na paglabab para sa hustisya para sa Negros 19", pagtatapos ni Ka Ayik.

Nagsimula na ang Panukot kag Hustisya: On the 40th day of the Toboso 19 Massacre & Public presentation of the NFFSM report

Kasalukuyang ibinabahagi ni kasamang Ariel 'Ka Ayik' Casilao, tagapangulo ng Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura ang kalagayan ng mga manggagawa sa tubuhan at magsasaka sa Hacienda Bedonia sa Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental.

SOUND OFF FOR THE MARTYRS OF TOBOSO!

On 19 April 2026, the Armed Forces of the Philippines conducted yet another massacre on Negros island — this time, that of nine civilians and 10 red fighters.

While it’s true they were victims of fascism and state terrorism, the circumstances of their murder — that they were killed by security forces as they served the people in different capacities — made of them not just victims.

The Toboso 19 were martyrs.

Peasant organizers Errol Wendel and Mau Santuyo, student leader Alyssa Alano, poet and journalist RJ Ledesma, migrant rights defenders Lyle Prijoles and Kai Sorem — they were civilian activists of the national democratic movement.

And in their aspiration to help create conditions for socialism — that is to say, in their struggle for national democracy — they dared to live among the oppressed Negrosanon peasantry, learned from them, and faced the complementary horrors of land monopoly and rural militarization.

The recent hundred-strong national fact-finding and solidarity mission to Toboso, Negros Occidental validated what the national democratic movement had already suspected: that the 79th Infantry Battalion of the AFP violated International Humanitarian Law. And they did so to maintain feudal and semi-feudal relations, upheld by imperialism and reinforced by bureaucrat capitalism.

Local testimonies bared systematic violence that for Negrosanon farmers and agri-workers had become everyday reality. Soldiers encamped in civilian homes. Strafing in residential neighborhoods. Routine harassment. Human shields.

But shocking as these stories were, they were not new. Errol, Mau, Alyssa, RJ, Lyle, and Kai knew well the risk of standing in solidarity with the peasants that sustained Negros as the country’s sugar bowl and hacienda capital. By living among the rural poor, they, too, were subjected to the same abject conditions.

Nevertheless, their willingness to stand up to the possibility of gunfire did not mean they deserved to be felled by it.

In their honor, different organizations of the peasant movement present this tribute to our heroes.

TOBOSOUNDS
Music for the martyrs of Toboso, Negros Occidental

Featuring performances by
—Catpuke
—Cream Flower
—gal•lows
—Mara Peralta
—Monochrome
—The Purest Blue
—Spacedog Spacecat
—switchbitch

Between musical acts, leaders and representatives from different organizations will share their solidarity messages. All proceeds from the pay-as-you-can fundraiser will go to the Defend Negros campaign.

We hope you will stand with us. See you at Mang Rudy’s in Makati!

PRESS RELEASE
National Fact-Finding and Solidarity Mission
Toboso, Negros Occidental
15 May 2026

𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁-𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗖𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗩𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗺𝘀, 𝗢𝗻𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗛𝗟 𝗩𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘀𝗼

A national fact-finding and solidarity mission (NFSM) composed of more than a hundred human rights workers, Makabayan lawmakers, activists, church workers, youth leaders, and journalists found the Philippine military liable for terrorizing farming communities in Negros Occidental following the bloody massacre in Toboso on April 19.

The mission confirms, through witness testimonies, that six of the massacre victims were known civilians, including peasant advocates and peasant organizers, directly contradicting the military’s narrative that all those killed were combatants.

Through documented eyewitness testimonies, the mission further confirmed that soldiers committed multiple violations against civilians, including the forcible use of civilian homes as military encampment, harassment and intimidation of residents in the name of counter-insurgency operations, restriction on farming activities, indiscriminate firing near homes, illegal detention, and even the alleged use of a farmer as a human shield.

Members of the mission themselves experienced various forms of harassment during the conduct of the investigation. Delegates reported being tailed by a suspicious individual on a motorcycle who was seen taking photographs of the convoy’s vehicles. During a courtesy call at the Barangay Hall of Barangay Salamanca, around five unidentified individuals were also observed openly photographing the delegates, raising serious concerns over surveillance and intimidation aimed at obstructing independent human rights documentation efforts. Residents likewise reported the presence of the 79th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in the area days prior to the mission.

Meanwhile, Sadie Stone, an American pastor and member of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP), was disallowed entry in the Philippines for being blacklisted allegedly for participating in “political activities” in 2016. Stone was supposed to join the National Fact-Finding and Solidarity Mission.

The mission strongly condemns these deplorable acts, alongside the military’s continued denial of massacring non-combatants. Acts that terrorize and endanger civilians constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions.

The mission calls for accountability from the AFP, an end to the militarization in Negros, and justice for all victims in the Negros 19 massacre.