WAKE UP, PILIPINAS.

Wake up, Pilipinas, they’re killing our students, children, and fellow countrymen.

They’ve actually been doing this for a long time now; we just became accustomed to it.

On April 19, 2026, Alyssa Alano, a student leader from the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD), was killed in a military operation in Toboso, Negros Occidental. She was an activist and researcher, who stayed for a work immersion with farmers in the area prior to the brutal incident. Alano advocated for human rights, anti-militarization, adequate education funding, and other causes.

She was not the only one. According to Rappler, 19 others died, all of whom were suspected to be members of the New People’s Army (NPA), an armed communist party in the Philippines. This fatal event was a clash between government forces and suspected members of the NPA.

“The rest were civilians documenting a peasant activity, standing alongside farmers who are consistently pushed to the margins by land grabbing and systemic neglect,” said Ka Maoche Legislador, NPA spokesperson.

The Philippine army described the event as an encounter with alleged NPA members in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso. However, UPD stated that the military indiscriminately fired bullets on the barangay. This cost Alano and others their lives, and residents were forced to evacuate. The Philippine Army rejects this claim, arguing that they upheld humanitarian law.

The spokesperson of the Army, Colonel Louie Dema-ala, said, “What were the people, who were allegedly journalists, social workers, faculty members, spokespersons of a progressive group, doing in the encounter site bearing firearms and shooting it out with government troops?

This raises the question of, “Is activism and journalism really terrorism?”

The culture of victim-blaming in the Philippines is more than strong. It is potent. Even more intense is the villainization of human rights activists and journalists. The 1987 Philippine Constitution (under Article III, Section 4) outlines freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Yet, state institutions such as the military and politicians repress those who exercise this right. In the Philippines, democracy is close to dead.

The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (Republic Act No. 11479), signed under the Duterte administration, enables warrantless arrests, extended detention, and administrative designation of terrorists. Its definition of terrorism is too vague, making it a perfect shield to mislabel activists, critics, and human rights defenders as terrorists.

Karapatan, a Philippine human rights non-governmental organization, reported that at least 227 individuals were charged with violating the Anti-Terrorism Act using baseless accusations. 30 are currently behind bars as of 2025.

In 2024, UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan appealed to the Philippine government to end red-tagging, the malicious labeling of individuals as communists or terrorists by state forces without due process. She stated that the vilification is often "Followed by threats, unlawful surveillance, attacks, or even unlawful killing.”

A lot of people argue that activism is terrorism, or that it leads to terrorism. They reject that activism is what led to the basic human rights and protections that we enjoy today. They weaken its power and dilute it to something that gets you killed. They say that it is Alano’s fault that she was brutally killed by the military.

“What was she doing there anyway?”

“They said she was conducting research in the mountains. What do you even research on a mountain?”

“It’s her fault for being there. She should have known that being with communists like the NPA would get her in trouble.”

“She threw away the hard work of her parents by associating herself with communists.”

All Filipinos are entitled to their own opinions and political ideologies, but not all are willing to understand views that do not align with their worldview. They insist on being narrow-minded, and the victim-blaming mindset persists.

On social media, Diehard Duterte Supporters–most commonly known as DDS–and other Filipinos who are against the “politically woke” are mocking her death. They said that she and the others who died do not deserve justice as they “died with the honor of being a member of the NPA.” They are labeling her as a communist rebel, instead of remembering her as someone who has done remarkable things. UPD published a statement calling for justice for her death. They emphasized that she was working with farming communities in Negros. To them, her death was caused by unjust “militarization” in rural areas. 

Filipinos often forget that activists and student leaders like Alano push for truth and accountability in our society. Meanwhile, those who are either too afraid or too blind to acknowledge the injustices happening remain silent.

If we look at history, activism brought about our sovereignty and identity as a nation. Jose Rizal’s political advocacies paved the way for our national consciousness. Through him and other heroes, the Propaganda Movement happened which championed peaceful reforms against Spanish colonial rule.

In recent times, student activism and mass movements were crucial in resisting Martial Law. It was a huge factor in the 1986 People Power Revolution, the turning point of Philippine democracy. Activists were the ones who helped secure labor rights like 8-hour workdays. Their lobbying and mobilization led to voting rights for women in the 1930s, minimum wage adjustments, and other initiatives. They helped influence policies through grassroots organizing.

I am no communist, nor am I a NPA sympathizer. But I believe that whether you are a liberal, communist, DDS, conservative, capitalist, or what not, the Philippine Army (or any state institution) has no right to violently and baselessly kill human rights activists and civilians. They are not a threat to society nor enemies of the state. Filipinos are too scared of accepting the truth that activism is one of the main reasons why we enjoy the freedom and human rights we savor today.

We cannot be mere bystanders to gross human rights violations. It is high time that we educate ourselves, get out of echo chambers, and call for accountability from the government and those in power.

Alano was an honorable “Iskolar ng Bayan,”--the people’s scholar. Even more than that, she was a daughter, a friend, and an individual who was courageous enough to fight for the marginalized.

Wake up, Pilipinas, they’re killing fellow Filipinos. And we are letting them.