Urgent Alert
June 28, 2026
The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) strongly condemns the wilful killing of indigenous woman Nenita Buscada in Bukidnon, Mindanao by the hands of the AFP’s 88th Infantry Battalion (IB) last June 15.
Buscada went to gather wood with her husband and two other civilians so they could buy school supplies for their children. Soldiers from the 88th IB, who were conducting military operations in the area, mistook her for a New People’s Army (NPA) fighter and fired shots. She was declared dead on arrival in the hospital, while her husband suffered wounds.
The incident is a blatant violation of the principle of distinction between combatants and civilians in international humanitarian law (IHL) as well as in the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CAHRIHL), which apply to the ongoing armed conflict between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). Commander of the 88th IB Lt. Col. Arnold Bautista offered hollow apologies after Buscada’s killing.
ICHRP demands that the 88th IB be held accountable for their war crimes. We also condemn the worsening militarization in Mindanao and in other parts of the Philippine countryside, particularly in peasant and indigenous communities—areas which face the worst fascist attacks under brutal counterinsurgency operations by the Philippine state.
Justice for Nenita Buscada!
