By Migrante International
OFW group denounces AFP’s illegal detention of Chantal Anicoche Migrante International Press release January 10, 2026 Global OFW group Migrante International joined human rights advocates to troop to Camp Capinpin on Saturday, demanding the immediate release of Chantal Anicoche from military custody. Anicoche, a Filipina community leader from the US, was previously missing in the wake of a military massacre in Occidental Mindoro on New Year’s Day. She was seen alive and under military custody in videos released by the AFP on January 8.
“Overseas Filipinos are deeply concerned for Chantal Anicoche, who is now in illegal detention under the AFP that bombed a Mangyan community in Mindoro. She has no case against her and there is no reason for the Philippine state to continue holding her under custody.” said Joanna Concepcion, chairperson of Migrante International.
Migrante demanded that Anicoche not be put under any form of torture, interrogation, threat, harassment, and intimidation from the hands of any unit of the AFP. Anicoche, a migrant youth leader and recent graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, was an advocate for environmental and rural issues in the Philippines.
OFW groups raised questions on the circumstances of the videos released by the AFP, where soldiers seemingly found, surrounded and interrogated her near the site of the recent military operation before bringing her to the camp of the 76th Infantry Battalion.
“If she was really found only 500 meters (0.3 miles) from the site of the army’s attack as they claim, why did it take the AFP one whole week to find her? And why did the military block fact-finding missions from human rights organizations from conducting their own search,” questioned BAYAN USA in a statement. “We cannot eliminate the possibility that the military already had custody of Chantal before, and that the videos were staged and released after the campaign to surface her brought mass international attention to her disappearance.”
Anicoche was flown to Camp Capinpin, where the 2nd Infantry Division accused her of integrating with the New People’s Army, questioning why an American citizen would come to the Philippines. The 2nd Infantry now has Anicoche under illegal military detention as a ‘person of interest’ in Camp Capinpin.
“Chantal is an activist, a civilian under illegal detention of the AFP. She is a true Filipino patriot who was born here, but bore the pain of separation from her homeland. She came home anyway to volunteer with rural and indigenous communities,” rebuked Concepcion in response to military accusations. “Anong pagmamahal sa bayan ang hihigit pa sa pag-uwi ni Chantal mula US para maglingkod sa mahihirap? Mas Pilipino pa siya sa AFP na makabayan kuno pero pumapatay ng mga kapwa Pilipino, mga katutubo sa Mindoro.”
Migrante called on the Marcos government to come clean with the truth of Chantal’s condition and allow her immediate access to human rights groups to ensure her safety, integrity, and the protection of her rights and welfare while in military custody. The group continues to demand her immediate release to her loved ones and community.###
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