The undersigned community members and organizations raise grave concern about the detainment of U.S. citizen and Filipino American community leader, Chantal Anicoche, by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). She went missing following a series of aerial bombings and strafing conducted by the AFP in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro on January 1, 2026. On January 8th, we learned from media reports that Chantal is alive from videos released by the Philippine Army.

We demand the Philippine and U.S. governments take immediate action to release Chantal Anicoche from the custody of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, ensure her safety and well-being, and that she is returned safely to her immediate family.

In violation of International Humanitarian Law, the AFP deployed 4 attack helicopters that dropped no less than 12 aerial bombs followed by continuous aerial strafing for several hours in a populous civilian community. According to initial fact-finding mission results from Philippine human rights organizations, the AFP’s attacks killed 3 Mangyan children, injured their mother, and forcibly displaced 188 families from the area. It also led to the death of at least 2 student researchers. This is the latest in a series of human rights violations on the island by the Philippine government, with 16,733 victims recorded from January to November of 2025 alone.

Anicoche was present in Abra de Ilog at the time of the AFP’s attack, and had been missing from January 1 until she was surfaced on January 8. As someone deeply passionate about Indigenous and environmental issues, Anicoche went to the Philippines to learn directly from the Mangyan community about their issues and aspirations, especially in the face of economic hardship and environmental degradation.

Anicoche is a 24 year old Filipino‑American community leader and recent B.S. Psychology graduate from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She was deeply involved in Filipino student organizing and advocacy around issues affecting Filipino communities in the U.S. and the Philippines. She served as a beloved leader in the Filipino American Student Association, and after graduating worked as a public school substitute teacher.

Her care and passion for social justice and environmental and rural issues in the Philippines never waned. She continued her civic engagement through policy advocacy with the Philippine Human Rights Act campaign, supporting the rights of Indigenous peoples and farmers in the Philippines. After seeing the back-to-back typhoons in the Philippines in 2025, Anicoche was inspired to pursue her passions and volunteer in the Philippines to learn from and help conduct relief work with rural communities directly impacted by environmental disasters and poverty.

Anicoche’s family, friends, and community organizations are demanding the Philippine government immediately release Chantal Anicoche from AFP custody, be returned safely to her immediate family, and strongly emphasize that she should not be put under any form of torture, interrogation, threat, harassment, and intimidation from any unit of the AFP.

Given the significant security assistance the United States provides to the Philippine military, the U.S. government has a responsibility to demand accountability and oversight when one of its own citizens is detained and impacted by military attacks overseas.

We, the undersigned, urgently demand:

1. The Philippine government takes immediate action to release Chantal Anicoche from custody of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, ensures her safety and well-being, and returns her safely to her immediate family.
2. The Philippine government establishes a humanitarian corridor, and allows independent fact-finding missions and humanitarian assistance for communities impacted by the aerial bombings and strafing conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines on January 1 in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro.
3. The U.S. Congress, State Department, and the U.S. Embassy in Manila to invoke their diplomatic powers to pressure the Philippine government to release Chantal Anicoche from custody of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, ensure her safety and well-being, and return her safely to her immediate family.
4. Both U.S. and Philippine governments uphold International Humanitarian Law.