Justice for Lyle Prijoles, Kai Dana Sorem and the Toboso 19

On April 19th, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) led an attack in Toboso, Negros Occidental which resulted in the killings of 19 individuals and forcibly displacing 100s of peasant communities.

Among the dead are human rights activists from the US and the Philippines. The two Filipino American activists are Lyle Prijoles and Kai Dana Sorem. Lyle was a long time leader in ICHRP-US; Kai was a well-known activist in Anakbayan South Seattle

Also among the victims were journalist RJ Ledesma and student activists Alyssa Alano, Maureen Santuyo, and Errol Wendel.

This massacre occurred in the context of the annual Balikatan “war games” targeting China. This year, the war games involved 17,000 troops, mainly from US military, but also US allies Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and France. Every year, the AFP uses the cover of the US war games to sew terror among peasant communities, human rights and social movement activists.

We call on elected representatives in the US to speak out against the US backed massacre.

We demand to know if US troops or weapons were involved in the killings.

We support the demand for an independent and immediate investigation inquiry into the massacre. This demand has been raised by KARAPATAN, the leading human rights group in the Philippines, together with human rights groups, peoples organizations, media groups, former member of the government panel on peace talks, and elected officials.

Finally, we demand an end to US funding and war games with the Armed Forces of the Philippines.