RELEASE CHANTAL!
The AFP were the ones that bombed an innocent community. We can’t trust them with Chantal’s safety and well-being.
Malaya Movement USA demands the immediate release of Chantal Anicoche, who is being held without a legal cause by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) at Camp Capinpin in Rizal.
Since January 6, our chapters alongside hundreds of other organizations have mobilized to call for Chantal's surfacing, suspecting that she became a victim of enforced disappearance frequently perpetrated by Philippine authorities.
We've reached out to our communities and U.S. elected officials to take immediate action, which contributed to the international outcry and condemnation of the aerial bombings and strafing by the AFP in Abra de Ilog where Chantal was staying.
This likely prompted the AFP's 203rd Infantry Brigade to publish potentially staged videos of their "surfacing" of and providing medical aid for Chantal to news outlets and social media on January 8.
Chantal's community is relieved to see her alive, but we are disturbed by these videos and the unquestioning acceptance of them by media outlets.
We are also deeply concerned since she is being held by the same military force that bombed an entire community just a week prior.
Prominent lawyers and human rights organizations in the Philippines have asserted that she is being wrongfully detained with no case pending.
Given the AFP's track record of brutal human rights abuses such as physical and psychological torture, enforced disappearances, trigger-happy murder of civilians, we are worried for Chantal's well-being. To the Marcos Jr. government and his AFP: We and the international community are watching.
Chantal chose to go back home to learn from the communities that have been hit the hardest by the economic and social crisis in the Philippines. She wanted to learn about her history, culture, and the realities of the Philippines not just from books or in classrooms thousands of miles away, or from movies or shows, but by seeing it firsthand.
She knew the risks that this posed. She studied that too, but she went anyway. Now she's being held without cause.
To Chantal's community in the U.S., continue to amplify our demands and take action now:
Sign & share the petition: tinyurl.com/chantal‑petition
Use the advocacy toolkit to contact your legislators: tinyurl.com/chantal‑advocacy‑toolkit
Report your outreach here to amplify pressure: tinyurl.com/SurfaceChantalForm
We demand that the Marcos Jr. Government and the AFP:
Release Chantal immediately!
Stop blocking humanitarian organizations and independent investigation into Abra de Ilog. Establish a humanitarian corridor and allow fact-finding missions into the community now.
Cease the bombings and strafing of communities and all violations of International Humanitarian Law.
To U.S. elected officials:
Call on the Marcos Jr. Government to Immediately release Chantal Anicoche, ensure her safety and well-being, and return her safely to her immediate family.
