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.

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.

It’s been 2 months since Malaya USA’s immersion trip concluded, where we met community members impacted by the Marcos-Duterte regime’s fascist policies. We integrated with the loved ones of victims of Duterte’s deadly drug war, peasant farmers in Negros where multiple high profile extrajudicial killings have happened in recent years, and Lumad indigenous people of Mindanao who have been subject to harassment and intimidation by state forces.

Since the trip, there have been significant developments in these communities.

Hear their stories.

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.