(1st UPDATE) The media network where slain 30-year-old journalist RJ Nichole Ledesma worked has condemned his killing along with 18 others in what the military described as an encounter in Toboso town, Negros Occidental.
In a statement on Wednesday, April 22, Altermidya Network—where Ledesma served as regional coordinator and writer—said, “Altermidya Network mourns the killing of our colleague RJ Nichole Ledesma, writer and editor of Paghimutad-Negros and regional coordinator of Altermidya in Negros Island.”
“RJ was killed in a supposed military operation in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental, on April 19. But he was in the area doing community work and immersion reporting on the effects of renewable energy projects… on vulnerable farmer communities,” it added.
Ledesma lives in Barangay Villamonte in Bacolod City and is the only child of his family, with his father having suffered a stroke.
Human rights group Human Rights Advocates Negros (HRAN) said Ledesma “was not in the initial clash site in Sitio Sinugmawan,” and was instead “attacked in a separate peasant community in Sitio Plariding during an ensuing military pursuit operation.”
Altermidya also claimed that Paghimutad-Negros “had long been subjected to red-tagging and vilification,” citing a 2022 post by the Philippine Army’s 303rd Brigade that labeled one of its reports as “propaganda” and linked it to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), claims it said were amplified across police and military platforms, including the Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC) in Western Visayas.
It added that Paghimutad-Negros had reported “surveillance and profiling of journalists in Negros,” as well as attacks on the peasant radio program “Kaling Kag Tugda,” which it said were meant to obscure human rights issues.
“We give the highest honor to our colleague RJ, who until his last breath served marginalized communities by immersing and reporting on their stories,” Altermidya said, as it joined Ledesma’s family and colleagues in calling for justice.
Ledesma was killed along with other cultural workers, such as Janebabe Balora, Maricel Blanco, and Alyssa Allano, among others, including an alleged Dutch national, whose presence the military had earlier dismissed.
NPA leaders of the Northern Negros Front (NNF) such as Roger Fabillar, alias “Tapang,” Rene Villarin Sr., Glenmar Bacusmo, Pedro Bunghanoy, and an individual known by the alias “Panes,” were also killed.
Meanwhile, Roel Sabello’s family argued that he was not a rebel, contrary to the military’s assertion.
As of press time, no further statement yet from the authorities regarding these claims, as their lines remain busy and cannot be reached.*
