Lumad leaders Michelle Campos and Genasque Enriquez were reportedly arrested by military forces. According to initial reports, Campos was arrested at 2am on March 6, 2025, while Enriquez was arrested on March 2, 2025. Their whereabouts are still unknown as of writing.
Both are leaders from the Manobo tribe in Lianga, Surigao del Sur who led campaigns to defend their ancestral lands from the encroachment of big mining and logging companies. They were at the forefront of indigenous peoples’ assertion of their right to self-determination.
She is the daughter of Dionel Campos, one of the three community leaders brutally murdered in the Lianga Massacre of 2015. Members of the paramilitary group Magahat-Bagani along with elements of the 75th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army killed community leaders Dionel Campos, Chairperson of local peoples organization Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod (MAPASU), Datu Bello Sinzo, and ALCADEV Lumad school executive director Emerito Samarca in front of community members in KM 16, Brgy. Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur on September 1, 2015. Since then, no perpetrator has been arrested and no justice has been rendered for the victims of the Lianga Massacre. Michelle led campaigns to call for justice for the Lianga Massacre and to assert indigenous peoples rights.
Genasque Enriquez is a Lumad leader who was at the forefront of campaigns to protect ancestral lands and the environment against the destructive effects of large-scale mining operations. He was active in exposing and condemning rights violations against Indigenous peoples and led campaigns for indigenous peoples rights and environmental protection. He faced reprisals in the form of fabricated charges to silence his activism. In 2014, he was unlawfully arrested on the trumped-up charge of murder, but was eventually released on bail. Enriquez served as the secretary-general of Lumad organization Kahugpungan sa mga Lumadnong Organisasyon (Kasalo).
The Andap Valley Complex in Surigao del Sur holds one of the world's largest coal block reserves. It has been the target of large-scale mining operations including the Romualdez-owned Benguet Mining Corporation, Chinese company Great Wall Mining and Power Crop., ASK Mining and Exploration Corp., Abacus Coal Exploration and Development Corp., and CoalBlack Mining Corp.
The Lumad communities in Lianga, Surigao del Sur continue to face heavy militarization. There has been no let-up in the filing of trumped-up cases against Lumad leaders, threats, harassment, forced surrenders, and other forms of repression against Lumad community members and IP rights activists.
We call on military forces to surface Michelle Campos and Genasque Enriquez, and to ensure that they are accorded their rights and personal integrity under the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and Republic Act No. 9851 or the domestic law implementing the IHL.
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