Rights Groups, Media Advocates Demand Probe Into Killing of Negros Island Journalist

BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental — Human rights groups, media advocates and activists called for an independent investigation into the killing of community journalist RJ Ledesma during a military operation in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental, on April 19.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines claimed the operation was an armed encounter between troops of the 79th Infantry Battalion, under the 303rd Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, and members of the New People’s Army in northern Negros. Nineteen people were killed, and the military said 24 firearms were seized.

Rights groups disputed the military’s account, saying Ledesma was a non-combatant conducting fieldwork on the impact of renewable energy projects across Negros Island when he was killed.

Rev. Melvin Fajardo of Human Rights Advocates in Negros said no “black propaganda” could erase Ledesma’s record as a journalist who worked with marginalized communities.

Ledesma was an editor of the alternative media outlet Paghimutad. His reporting focused on farmworkers, communities facing reclamation, Indigenous people and residents affected by land grabbing and militarization in Candoni, Murcia, Silay and Banago.

“One of the targets of reporting in Paghimutad is to report on issues that are not being touched upon by mainstream or dominant media,” said Avon Ang, national coordinator of Altermidya. “It is our job as journalists to go where the issues of the people are.”

Ang said Ledesma’s death fit a broader pattern of violence against journalists and social justice advocates, including raids, killings and the alleged planting of evidence. She questioned whether state forces accused of abuses had been prosecuted.

Hayme Alegre, executive vice president of Kabataan Party-list, also rejected claims that Ledesma was an NPA combatant. Ledesma was the youth party-list group’s seventh nominee in the 2022 national elections.

“He did a lot of work in uplifting the youth and the people in Negros Island,” Alegre said. “The youth are enraged about what happened to the 19 massacred in Toboso.”

Berlita Ante, spokesperson of BAYAN Negros, said Ledesma helped document reclamation activities in Banago that displaced local communities. She said he gathered residents’ statements and helped bring petitions forward.

“RJ was a very hardworking and determined individual who helped the needy in our society,” Ante said. “The bloodthirsty army should answer for its crime of killing RJ, who only wanted to do good for the people.”

Noli Rosales, secretary-general of Kilusang Mayo Uno Negros, questioned reports that a bandolier, or belt of ammunition, was found on Ledesma. He said one item should not be used to define Ledesma’s life and alleged that the bandolier appeared to have been planted.

“I was also a victim of having evidence planted on me,” Rosales said, referring to the 2019 crackdown in which he said authorities accused him of being an NPA combatant and planted weapons in the KMU office.

The groups said Ledesma’s killing was part of a wider pattern of militarization in Negros under Memorandum Order No. 32, a Duterte-era directive ordering the army and police to “suppress lawless violence and acts of terror” in Samar, Negros Island and the Bicol Region.

They urged the Commission on Human Rights to conduct an immediate, transparent and impartial investigation. Rosales said human rights advocates had not been allowed to enter the town where the alleged encounter happened, preventing independent fact-finding.

At least 653 people from 168 households in Barangays Salamanca and San Jose in Toboso were displaced after the military operation.

Among those killed with Ledesma were student leader Alyssa Alano of the University of the Philippines Diliman, community researcher Errol Wendel, and peasant organizer Maureen Santuyo.

Human Rights Alliance Negros said about 56 people in Negros Island have died extrajudicially or from state violence since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in 2022.

“His death demands more than mourning; it demands accountability,” Fajardo said.