The National Fact-Finding and Solidarity Mission (NFFSM) launched by progressive groups confirmed the 79th IB’s multiple violation of human-rights and international humanitarian law in the Toboso massacre during its visit to Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental on May 14. It investigated the military killing of 10 Red fighters of the New People’s Army (NPA) and nine unarmed individuals on April 19 in Barangay Salamanca and related incidents..

At least 117 delegates participated in the mission, composed of local and foreign human-rights defenders, legislators, activists, church people, student leaders and journalists. Led by Manindigan-Negros, groups from Negros Island welcomed the mission.

With its size and breadth, the delegation was unfazed by the heavy militarization and military harassment in Toboso and across the island. The delegation compelled local governments and officials to allow the activity. San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminza also gave support and a blessing. “Your courage to seek the truth amid fear and intimidation is concrete proof that truth, justice, and peace still matter,” he said.

The delegation specifically visited Sitio Sinugmawan and Sitio Plaringding where residents reported hearing gunshots. Delegates went to each incident location and saw bullet marks on trees, shell casings and other traces of shooting.

They held focused group discussions and house-to-house interviews to speak with residents. They interviewed at least 30 residents whom they considered “key informants” for having direct experience of the events.

Residents recounted how soldiers “visited” and searched at least 18 houses looking for alleged NPA fighters. In Sitio Plaringding, the 79th IB abducted a mother and child who were going to the fishpond to gather shellfish. They were taken to and interrogated on a hill where they witnessed the soldiers relentlessly shooting at the fishpond. The 79th IB also used drones.

The delegation confirmed the 79th IB’s forced displacement of 653 individuals from April 19 to April 22. They were thus not able to interview anyone who could verify the 79th IB’s claim of an intense firefight at the fishpond where the 19 bodies were allegedly found.

Residents verified that at least six of the 19 massacred were civilians. They said they personally mingled with student leader Alyssa Alano, peasant organizers Maureen Santuyo and Errol Wendel, journalist RJ Ledesma, and Filipino-American activists Kai Sorem and Lyle Prijoles. Residents said they never saw those six carrying weapons during their presence in the community.

According to the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA, or Union of Agricultural Workers), the residents’ statements corroborate progressive groups’ assertion of having sent civilians to Barangay Salamanca to conduct research. They were in the barangay to help organize and conduct social investigation and studies on the conditions of peasants and farmworkers, particularly in Hacienda Bedonia. The hacienda covers 18 hectares, which should have been granted to 16 farmworker families who have long tilled the land.

The delegation’s gathered data confirmed the 79th IB’s crimes. These include the military’s encampment in civilian homes, harassment and intimidation of residents, restrictions on farming activities, indiscriminate firing near homes, illegal detention, and using a farmer as a human shield.

The delegation also found evidence tampering or movement and planting of evidence (weapons, bandoliers and personal items) to support the 79th IB’s false narrative. Forensic pathologist Dr. Fortun also reported gunshot entries in the back on three of the dead opposing the military-distributed photos where the bodies are all lying on their backs. Some victims were also discovered to have possibly died from excessive bleeding.

The soldiers also clearly desecrated the victims’ bodies. They left the bodies exposed to the sun and soaked in the fishpond water for two days and “recovered” them only on April 21. Two of the slain’s remains were even switched.

The mission ended with the delegation calling to hold the 79th IB and the 303rd IBde accountable, along with an end to militarization on Negros Island. They demand justice for the massacred and for all the victims’ families.

Meanwhile, state forces repressed the delegation. Soldiers tailed the investigating teams and photographed them. The 79th IB soldiers also swarmed Barangay Salamanca on May 13, one day before the mission. An American delegate from the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines was prevented from entering the Philippines on the grounds that she was “blacklisted” in the country.