Justice for Lyle Prijoles! Justice for the victims of the Toboso Massacre! Defend Negros Island!
Malaya Movement USA mourns the sudden loss of long-time activist and beloved friend, Lyle Prijoles.
We vehemently condemn the fascist state violence that took the life of Lyle along with 18 others in what can only be called a senseless massacre carried out by the Philippine military in Toboso, Negros.
Lyle was a Filipino American born in San Diego and community organizer in the Bay Area. Lyle gave back to the Filipino American community through his love for his family, his activism as a student, his involvement in the arts and cultural work, and his human rights advocacy. One example was his advocacy for the Philippine Human Rights Act because he knew that US taxpayer dollars were funding bullets and bombs used by the PNP and AFP. He returned to the Philippines to learn from marginalized communities and work alongside them.
State violence in Negros is not new because the government denies workers and farmers their right to land. During martial law under Marcos Sr., famine plagued the people of Negros, and on September 20, 1985, government paramilitary surrounded sugar workers, farmers, fisherfolk, students, urban poor, professionals, and church people and killed twenty protesters in what is known as the Escalante Massacre.
During Rodrigo Duterte's regime in 2018, the Sagay 9 were nine farmers extrajudicially killed while eating dinner in their tent; due to MO 32, sugar workers demanding land redistribution became state targets. The same year, lawyer and founding member of the National Union of People's Lawyer Atty. Benjamin Ramos was killed. In 2019, over 50 community leaders, including peasant and worker leaders, were arrested in an organized raid. Human rights worker and peasant advocate Zara Alvarez was shot in broad daylight by masked vigilantes in August 2020.
The attacks did not stop under Duterte though, Marcos Jr continued his fascist policies. Since 2022, human rights alliance, KARAPATAN has documented at least 52 individuals, majority are peasants and farmworkers, that were killed in Negros from July 2022 to December 2025. A third of the current political prisoners are from Negros. The National Action Plan for Unity Peace and Devleopment (NAP-UPD) continues the violence of martial law and MO 32, and the massacre of the Negros 19 is the latest iteration of the Philippine government's brutality against civilians and activists.
The AFP and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) have unleashed their disinformation campaign, including their vitriolic trolls, to try and paint the victims as "terrorists" who have fallen prey to "terror-grooming" tactics. This is insulting to the legacy of each and everyone of their victims and we must do what we can to counter their false narratives and expose the realities that drive people to take part in genuine movements for change.
The Marcos administration and the AFP must be held accountable for their crimes against the people and violations of international humanitarian law. This is further proof that the Philippines under Marcos Jr is not fit to take a sit in the UN Security Council, a body that is supposedly charged to maintain peace and uphold human rights around the world.
The global outrage in response to the Toboso massacre shows the desire for justice for the victims of this fascist state violence. We demand justice for the victims of the Toboso massacre! We demand an end to state violence!
Justice for Lyle!
Justice for the Toboso 19!
Defend Negros Island! Military out of the countryside! AFP-PNP Palayasin!
Stop funding war crimes with our tax dollars! End all US Aid to the Philippines!
Abolish the NTF-ELCAC!
Scrap the NAP-UPD and MO 32!
Take Action
Marcos Taksil! No UN platform for fascists! Sign the petition to oppose Marcos' UN Security Council bid: tinyurl.com/NoMarcosSeat
Plan vigils and other protest actions to commemorate the lives taken by the Marcos regime!
Fight BACK against Fascism! Join the Malaya Movement: malayamovement.com/join
