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.

We are enraged to learn that 24 year-old Chantal Anicoche, a Filipino-American former student leader based in Baltimore and steadfast advocate for the Philippines, was attacked by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

In blatant violation of international humanitarian law, the AFP launched an aerial bombing campaign on a civilian indigenous community on January 1, 2026 in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro, where Chantal was staying as a researcher. She remains missing to this day.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines, specifically the 203rd Infantry Brigade and the 2nd Infantry Division, viciously bombed and strafed civilians in Abra De Ilog, Mindoro. They killed a student researcher, Jerlyn Doydoya, another civilian, and at least 3 Indigenous Mangyan-Iraya Youth.

Since the start of Rodrigo Duterte’s presidential term in 2016 and his so-called “war on drugs”, blatant unmasked fascism has been the norm for the Filipino people.

This fascism is aided by the policies he put in place like instituting the NTF-ELCAC, an agency that has garnered international outrage for baselessly red-tagging human rights defenders, community organizers, and activists and the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020, which erodes legal protections for the Filipino People. Duterte’s barbarous policies extend into the present day under Marcos Jr.’s administration.

BBM’s 3 year presidency so far has been marked by war crimes, human rights violations, and an ever-declining economy that has resulted in more poverty, unemployment, landlessness and overall instability. His attempts to bring about peace in the country is a lie, much like his other promises, and has only brought about more destruction, violence, and hardship.