From the Negros 19 to Pax Silica:
The people continue to resist the fascist offensive of the Marcos regime - rise up for an all-out battle to shut down the U.S.-led Pax Silica initiative from breaking ground on Philippine soil!
On the six-month commemoration of the Negros 19 massacre, thousands continue to mourn their deaths, but with that anger and frustration, they have directed this towards organized action. The people demand justice and will continue the struggle the Negros 19 took up wholeheartedly: fighting for genuine freedom in the Philippines.
On April 19 in Toboso, Negros Occidental, on the eve of the U.S.-PH Joint Balikatan war exercises, the AFP conducted a 13-hour indiscriminate firing and in a civilian population. A total of 19 people were killed, including: two minors, a journalist, a university student leader, human rights advocates, and two Filipino-American activists, Lyle Prijoles and Kai Sorem.
Today, President Bong Bong Marcos is facilitating even more state attacks and selling out of our land, resources and people to the United States and its aim to bend the world for its AI supply chain.
The profit-driven technology for mass surveillance and imperialist war drives the Marcos Jr. regime to attack peasant advocates in the countryside and the Ayta indigenous peoples defending their land, unjustly detain activists like Filipino-American Christina Pasion, and murder our dear friends Lyle and Kai and the others of the Negros 19.
In the U.S., we see the same agenda facilitated by overseas PH Government officials. The Embassy and Consulates have issued public statements claiming to support Filipino migrants, but they ring hollow as the people continue to expose them for cooperating directly with DHS, allowing our kababayan to suffer in the horrific conditions of ICE detention. The Embassy’s futile efforts to save face is drowned out against the outcry of the detainees’ loved ones and the mass movement. And this week, Marcos Jr. is sending a full delegation of representatives from the BCDA (Bases Conversion and Development Authority) to Washington D.C., to tightly monitor the finalization of the Pax Silica deal.
Ambassador Jose Romualdez and the Philippine Embassy’s actions are clear - the securing of the Pax Silica deal takes precedence over protecting the rights and welfare of Filipino migrants and pursuing justice for Filipino-Americans murdered by the AFP on Philippine soil.
As we continue to condemn the insincere actions of the Philippine state, the mass movement of overseas Filipinos continues to grow, grounded in genuine care for our kababayan and the conviction that true change is possible through concrete, collective action. We celebrate these hard-earned victories.
From the San Diego proclamation declaring September 19, 2026, as Lyle Prijoles Day; to the cemented solidarity between ILWU dock workers in Crockett with the sugarcane farmers of Negros Island; to establishment of the Defend Negros Coalition in both Northern California and Washington State; and the launch of the U.S.-wide Shut Down Pax Silica Network with 100+ member organizations; these milestones reflect the growing strength of our mass movement.
The Negros 19 and their memory lives on through our continued organizing and our commitment to fighting for a better future for our kababayan and our homeland.
In the coming weeks, our fight to oppose the Pax Silica initiative and prevent the final signing of the deal at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit on November 16–18 will be a critical period. With public outrage mounting and investors “spooked” by the outcry of the Filipino people, we in BAYAN USA believe in the will of the people to truly shut down Pax Silica, and that the Filipino diaspora can make a concrete contribution to this surmountable fight, including returning home to participate in the mainstream struggle.
Sama-samang kumilos para sa pambansang demokrasya!
