On Kian Delos Santos, Dedeng Jimenez, and the Tailangod 13

Updates from the communities we met during the 2025 Immersion Trip

It’s been 2 months since Malaya USA’s immersion trip concluded where we met community members impacted by the Marcos-Duterte regime’s fascist policies. We integrated with the loved ones of victims of Duterte’s deadly drug war, peasant farmers in Negros where multiple high profile extrajudicial killings have happened in recent years, and Lumad indigenous people of Mindanao who’ve been subject to harassment and intimidation by state forces. Since the trip, there have been significant developments in these communities.

Hear their stories and take action

Killing of Dedeng Jimenez in Negros

Malaya Movement USA mourns the death of Warlita “Dedeng” Jimenez, who was killed by suspected military agents in Sitio Makilo, Barangay Camansi, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental on December 23rd, 2025. She was a peasant organizer who fought fiercely for the rights of her association to the land that they cultivate. Her husband, Joseph Jimenez, was killed on November 30th 2022 by elements of the fascist 94th and 47th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army.

Since the implementation of Memorandum Order 32 (MO32) in 2018, the Armed Forces of the Philippines have been terrorizing the people of Negros Occidental, putting the province under de-facto martial law and creating a system of counter-insurgency that would become the blueprint for the NTF-ELCAC and their operations nationwide. Warlita is one victim of an overwhelming wave of human rights violations (HRVs) that terrorize the masses of Negros Island for fighting for the right to their land.

Malaya Movement Northeast visited Kabankalan just in October of 2025. We heard directly from the experiences of rural communities that bordered Barangay Camansi. The peasants and farmers shared stories of violence from despotic landlords with the help of the military and police forces that continue to terrorize the rural communities of Kabankalan. Majority of the peasants in Negros Island are landless. Poor peasants continue to fight for the right to land despite the military terror and obstructions by big landlords and the empty promises of the Department of Agrarian Reform that offer no real solutions to the land problem.. The killing of Jimenez and many other peasants and the continued land grabbing and military violence in Kabankalan further demonstrates the Marcos Jr. regime’s servitude to the rich and corrupt and his utter treachery towards the Filipino people.

We commend the people of Negros in their tireless pursuit of rights and justice in the face of overwhelming state repression. The fact that fascism has specifically targeted the region is a testament to the strength of the conviction of the people.

Conviction of Kian’s killers

We met the loved ones of victims of Duterte’s drug war during our trip. Nanette, the mother of Aldrin who was killed Oct 12, 2017, has been counting the days until justice is fully served. “It’s been 2945 days. I will never tire of counting the days until we get justice.”

For Kian Delos Santos’ loved ones, some semblance of justice has finally been served with the conviction of the 3 police officers in the ruthless murder in 2017. This won’t bring back Kian or the thousands others killed but at least the public can be assured that 3 of Duterte's fascist killers will be locked up for at least 40 years for crime. Their conviction sets a precedent for future cases related to the drug war and can provide some semblance of justice.

While we welcome this guilty conviction, we must continue to assert that the criminal mastermind, former president Rodrigo Duterte, be held to account to the fullest extent. 

Let us continue to fight for justice and accountability alongside the loved ones of those killed mercilessly by Duterte’s drug war, which we must remember continues under Marcos Jr. today with at least 1000 killed since he took office in 2022.

Wrongful Conviction of the Talaingod 13
The Court of Appeals affirmed the fabricated “child abuse” conviction against the “Talaingod 13”—Teacher France Castro, Satur Ocampo, and 11 Lumad educators, reveals how the Philippine state weaponizes the courts to criminalize those who defend indigenous communities. The case stemmed from a 2018 humanitarian mission to protect Lumad students from militarization and paramilitary threats in Talaingod, Davao del Norte. Those who evacuated children to safety are punished while state-perpetrated abuses—school bombings, closures, displacement, and killings under the Duterte and Marcos Jr. administrations—go unpunished.

This pattern of repression is mirrored in the plight of the Manobo-Pulangiyon tribe, who welcomed Malaya Movement USA immersionists into their makeshift roadside encampment after being violently evicted in 2017 by private guards and state forces. Nearly 1,500 families have since endured prolonged and dangerous displacement while Kiantig Development Corporation continues operating on ancestral land under an expired lease, shielded by police and military backing and tied to the sitting mayor of Quezon, Bukidnon. Even an NCIP cease-and-desist order proved futile as enforcement agencies withdrew protection for the community and instead enabled corporate operations, leading to deforestation, plantation expansion, polluted water sources, and severe harm to health and livelihoods.

From establishing an encampment, utilizing state agencies like the DENR, NCIP, and CHR to pressure the state to act, and working with church groups like Caritas and the Diocese of Bukidnon, the Manobo-Pulangiyon tribe remains relentless in asserting their sovereignty. We, too, must be relentless in holding the abusive state accountable for its treachery and defending the human rights of those on the front lines in Mindanao. 

Julie’s Blacklisting

Since the 20 participants returned from the immersion trip in October, Malaya Movement USA’s own National Secretary General, Julie Jamora, was denied entry into the Philippines on her way to participate in a similar program. She is now the third US-based activist to be placed on the blacklist. Julie’s blacklisting is the extension of the political repression under both Duterte and Marcos and we must continue to expose these unjust and fascist attacks.

FIGHT BACK

The fight for justice, accountability, and against fascism in the Philippines is part and parcel of Malaya Movement USA’s mission. Join us as we continue to strengthen and build the anti-fascist movement, from the Philippines to the US. 

Join the movement: malayamovement.com/join
Learn more about our immersion trip: malayamovement.com/2025immersion
Sign the petition to remove Julie from the Blacklist: tinyurl.com/petition4julie