In the1980s, when the New People’s Army (NPA) was at the height of its strength, journalists and other sympathetic—or simply open-minded—individuals, both foreign and Filipino, were occasionally invited into its “guerilla fronts,” rural areas where the movement held sway. There, they could speak directly with rebel leaders about what they were fighting for and why.

These visits were complicated and dangerous undertakings. The NPA units hosting them had to take extraordinary precautions to keep visitors away from active combat zones and minimize the possibility that they would be caught in an encounter with government forces. There was an understanding that civilians—especially those who had come to listen and observe—should not be placed in the line of fire.

That makes what happened in Toboso, Negros Occidental, on April 19 of this year all the more troubling.

In this issue, retired university professor and PF contributing writer James Sobredo pieces together reports of the 12-hour clash between a Philippine Army battalion and the Northern Negros Front of the NPA. Nineteen people were killed, six of them civilians. Among the dead were two University of the Philippines student leaders and two Filipino Americans: Lyle Prijoles of the San Francisco Bay Area and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem of Seattle. Their deaths have reverberated far beyond Negros, reaching a Filipino American community whose members remain deeply connected to the struggles—and dangers—of the Philippines. ["Filipino Americans Sound Off On the Toboso Tragedy"]

So what really happened in Toboso?

The immediate responses have followed familiar lines. The military has engaged in red-tagging and has accused all 19 dead as combatants; the NPA has asserted that the six civilians were not its members. But neither accusation nor denial can answer the fundamental questions surrounding the deaths. The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines is investigating, and its findings will be essential to establishing what happened and who bears responsibility.

For Filipinos in the diaspora, this is more than a distant story about a conflict in a remote part of the Philippines. It is a reminder that the political violence we read about from thousands of miles away can reach into our own communities, claim people we know, and leave families on both sides of the Pacific searching for answers.

We owe the dead more than competing narratives. We owe them the truth.

And until that truth is established, the least we can do is refuse to let their lives—and their deaths—be reduced to a label, a slogan, or a political talking point.

We have more stories below.

Filipino Americans Sound Off on the Toboso Tragedy by James Sobredo

With Feathers on Her Cap by Anthony Maddela

The Manong Who Never Loses by John Rey

Growing Up Tough in Sta. Ana, Manila by Ben Gaetos

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