April 27, 2026
LOS ANGELES – Filipino American activists have called for an independent investigation into the military operation in Toboso, Negros Occidental, that left 19 people killed, including two Americans of Filipino descent.
The two Americans were among suspected communist guerrillas who were killed in clashes with Philippine troops in the central province earlier this week, a government anti-insurgency task force said Saturday night.
Slain Fil-Ams identified
Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr., executive director of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, identified the two slain Americans as Lyle Prijoles and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem.
In separate statements, Malaya Movement USA, Gabriela USA and BAYAN USA condemned what they described as a massacre carried out by the Philippine military in Barangay Salamanca in Toboso. They accused the military of violating international humanitarian laws.
The Fil-Am activists joined human rights groups in the Philippines in calling for an independent investigation into the clashes, saying that civilians were killed including a student leader from the University of the Philippines, two local advocates for farmers’ rights and a local community journalist who wanted to show support for impoverished villagers.
“We call on the international community to monitor this case closely, as it is not an isolated incident but part of a continuing pattern of International Humanitarian Law violations across the Philippine countryside,” the National Union of People’s Lawyers, a human rights group, said.
Who was Lyle Prijoles?
Prijoles, 40, was a human rights advocate from San Diego, Calif., “immersing with communities in Negros at the time to learn first-hand their daily hardships as farmers, and their struggle for land and justice,” according to Aidan Bonifacio of BAYAN USA.
“He was a well-loved community member who for decades was involved with the Filipino community – whether through his parents’ Filipino restaurant, student clubs in college, arts and cultural organizations, and human rights advocacy groups,” Bonifacio said.
He said Prijoles, who pursued courses in journalism and Asian American Studies, wanted to take his education beyond the classroom and use it to listen to and uplift the stories of marginalized communities.”
“Lyle knew that the stories of the Filipino community reached much further than California, and even beyond the United States,” Bonifacio added.
In a statement, Malaya Movement USA said Prijoles “gave back to the Filipino American community through his love for his family, his activism as a student, his involvement in the arts and cultural work, and his human rights advocacy.”
‘Terror-grooming’
Torres said the presence of the two Filipino Americans in the encounter “should prompt careful reflection on how involvement in certain activities or networks may lead to unintended exposure to dangerous environments.”
He warned Fil-Ams to be wary of being lured by left-wing activist groups into joining or supporting Filipino insurgents in the Philippines in a recruitment process he described as “terror-grooming.”
The US and the Philippines have separately designated the New People’s Army as a terrorist organization.
Torres said that all 19 people killed have been identified and their remains have been turned over to family. “These facts point to a disturbing convergence: foreign nationals in a live combat setting, where the risks are immediate and the consequences irreversible,” he said.
The two Americans arrived in the Philippines in March and “were believed to have subsequently traveled to Negros Occidental, where they were killed on April 19,” Torres said, without providing other details.
Rebel commander killed
Military officials said the clash erupted as army troops responded to information provided by villagers about the presence of suspected rebels, and that a rebel commander with a bounty of 1 million pesos ($16,600) on his head was killed. A soldier was wounded in the fighting.
Troops seized 24 firearms at the scene of the clashes and an unspecified number of fleeing guerrillas were captured, the task force said.
At its peak decades ago, the insurgent force had an estimated 25,000 fighters, who waged one of Asia’s longest-running communist rebellions. Battle defeats, factional divisions and surrenders, however, have reduced the number of rebels to below 900, according to security officials.
Peace talks brokered by Norway collapsed under the previous Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, after both sides accused the other of continuing deadly attacks despite the negotiations.
‘Justice for Lyle’
Meanwhile, the Fil-Am activists vowed to pursue justice for Prijoles and the 18 other fatalities in the April 19 encounter.
“Lyle’s care for others, for his community and for human rights in the Philippines motivated him to go back home to the Philippines. It is a decision that has our highest respect, and one that more Filipinos overseas should not be afraid to make,” Bonifacio said.
“No Filipino abroad who wants to return home to our motherland and stand with the most marginalized in society should have to fear government attack.” (With AP report)