Our hearts feel profound relief that Chantal Anicoche is alive and finally safe. This would not have happened without thousands who acted to pressure the Philippine military into revealing they secretly had Chantal alive in their custody and then releasing her after 3 weeks of constant public outrage.

We also feel angry and disturbed that those 3 weeks were likely defined by physical and psychological torment, like many who were either killed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) like Chad Booc or survived the AFP like Jonila Castro.

As Filipino educators and allies in the United States, we echo the calls to release Filipino American youth activist, Chantal Anicoche, from the custody of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and safely return her to the United States. While a student leader at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Chantal learned about her identity, culture, and indigenous and environmental issues in the province of Mindoro, Philippines.

The Spanish-American War, which resulted in U.S. colonial relationships with Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines via annexation, is referred to as the “first media war” in some quarters and was also a watershed moment in the history of mis- and disinformation.

Epitomizing what came to be known as “yellow journalism,” the sensationalist reporting of U.S. newspapers owned by rival publishers Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst rose to a fever pitch as their respective outlets fought for market share and oftentimes played fast and loose with the facts on the ground in their coverage of Cuba’s struggle for independence from Spain.

When Marcos Jr. launched the flood control investigations in July 2025, we knew it wouldn't take long before he'd be implicated too. He promised accountability and swift arrests but he failed to deliver. His popularity and trust ratings are tanking. And now he’s apparently seeking medical attention for “discomfort”.

Why the urgent demand to release Chantal from AFP custody is critical.

Malaya Movement USA is disgusted by the NTF-ELCAC's recent statement that is shamelessly posturing to care about the "safety" of Fil-Am Chantal Anicoche, who is illegally detained by the 2nd Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

It is outrageous that this very same government body that has sown nationwide terror and systematized red-tagging and attacks on human rights advocates and activists has the gall to claim that it is "committed to uphold human rights, due process, and transparency" when it has done nothing but the complete opposite.