Another case of General Santos City police officers abusing women in their custody happened in October, two months after a similar crime was committed in the same city, monitoring by Sandatahang Dahas revealed.
.Sandatahang Dahas reported that on Oct. 27, an unnamed 18-year-old teenager and a lesbian companion were reportedly molested by two police officers from the General Santos City Police Office inside a police patrol car, near their own station. The accused officers are under investigation and cases are currently being filed against them.
This case is similar to the reported cases of two teenagers being raped last August 1 which also happened in the General Santos City and almost the same circumstance wherein civilians were brought by the police suspects to a remote area before sexually abusing them.
In Ginatilan, Cebu, a police officer is facing charges of rape of a 14-year-old girl on Sept. 28.
The Sandatahang Dahas Project is a monthly monitor by the UP Third World Studies Center on reported state-related violence.
Marked increase in drug-related killings
Sandatahang Dahas’s October 2025 report recorded 33 killings and 20 injuries in state-related violence, mainly driven by an uptick in the police’s anti-illegal drugs operations. There were now 318 killed and 269 injured in state-related violence.
Of the 33 killed, 14 were due to drug-related incidents; of the 20 injured, seven were caused by the same. A marked increase in drug-related killings has been observed since August this year.
The 14 drug-related killings are part of the 30 out of the 33 that the police and the military were responsible for. The Philippine National Police committed 26 killings, eight of which in joint law enforcement operations with the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
One of the PNP’s cases involved the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the other with the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. Meanwhile, the AFP was solely responsible for three killings, and the PDEA for one. The three remaining cases of killings in October are attributed to civilians, with all cases done against a police officer. There was no fatality attributed to insurgents.
On Oct. 1, Joemar Casuacillo, a suspected drug dealer, was killed in a buy-bust operation conducted by PDEA-12 in Barangay Mabini, Koronadal City, South Cotabato. According to Koronadal City officials, Casuacillo was a large-scale shabu and marijuana peddler in the area. The authorities were able to collect 15 grams of shabu worth 102,000 pesos, a pistol, and a fragmentation grenade inside the sling bag of the suspect. His accomplice was arrested.
On Oct. 3, a buy-bust operation led to the killing of a suspected drug pusher in Barangay Igcocolo, Guimbal, Iloilo. Noel Tabiolo and an alias “Rogelio” were the targets of the operation, in which the former sustained a gunshot wound to the chest that led to his death. Tabiolo’s family reportedly blamed Rogelio for involving Noel in illegal drug transactions. Both suspects were not on the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council List according to their barangay chairman.
Three deaths in drug-related operations were recorded on Oct. 15. In Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, Capt. Sammy Paning, Cpl. Marson Quijano, and Marine Pvt. Alex Bajoyo were injured in the brief clash between police officers and high-profile drug suspect Samsudin Usman and his aide Piong Mindo. The police officers were about to serve an arrest warrant towards the two suspects, but they retaliated with gunfire. Usman and Mindo were killed instantly. In Barangay Tipanoy, Iligan City, one died, one surrendered, and one escaped during a buy-bust operation. Led by police officers of the City Drug Enforcement Unit of Iligan City Police Office, they claim that the suspect allegedly retaliated as police were about to arrest them. The unnamed suspect who died was still brought to the hospital but was declared dead on arrival. The other suspect who brought the former to the hospital surrendered to the police, while the last remaining suspect is currently being chased by police operatives. In Naga, Camarines Sur, a 45-year-old street-level drug suspect, alias “Marlon/Mark,” was killed after a buy-bust operation. While police officers were cuffing him after allegedly being caught with shabu, he stabbed the two unnamed police officers arresting him, resulting in them fatally shooting the suspect. As of writing, the two officers are recovering in the Bicol Medical Center.
On Oct. 16, one was killed and another injured in a search warrant operation by the police in General Santos City. The warrant was supposedly for an alias “Carl Jim” who had a case for illegal possession of firearms. During the operation, Carl Jim and his companions reportedly fired at the police, causing them to retaliate and kill Julius Cesar Balolong and injure an alias “Anton.” Six sachets of suspected shabu were recovered from Balolong, who was reportedly the son of a known businessman in the area.
On Oct. 30, a Police Corporal Albasheer Lumalag of the Special Action Force (SAF) and two drug suspects named Alnaib Sahiddan Daud alias “General” and Jannul Ujaji Jamal were killed in Sitio Talatak, Brgy. Bato-Bato, Indanan, Sulu. Another police officer named Pat. Felix Ruado was injured in the exchange. The suspects reportedly opened fire as the troops approached, resulting in an intense gunfight. According to the police, apart from the two fatalities, they have arrested another two suspects. Police Major Helen Cruz reports the suspects were part of an alleged emerging drug group.
Civilian casualties against police state forces notably high
Of the 26 killings done by the police, 24 were civilians. For this month, there were no recorded cases involving a police officer killing another officer.
First of the notable cases involving state agents killing civilians happened in the early morning of Oct. 17. A couple named Jonathan Prado and Bhryliant Pearl Prado were hacked to death inside their rented home in Barangay Villarica, Babak District, Samal, Davao del Norte. Police launched a hot pursuit operation, and the perpetrator was arrested. The unnamed suspect, confessing he was drunk at the time of the crime, was identified as a member of the Task Force Samal, and was personally known by the couple. Investigators are currently looking if the female victim was first sexually assaulted before being killed.
On Oct. 21, a village official named Nadzri Tarahin was killed by an army intelligence officer and a CAFGU militiaman, in a bus terminal in Malinis village, Lamitan City, Basilan, at around 10:32 am. Tarahin was rushed to the hospital for treatment but was eventually declared dead. After the police launched a pursuit operation, they managed to arrest two of the three suspects, named Tohlalung Acalul and Delpi Suratan. A third suspect named “Nas,” the member of the said intelligence security unit of the military, remains uncaptured.
Reportedly to avenge Tarahin, more than a hundred armed men joined by Tarahin’s brothers and MILF members marched down Basilan to hunt who killed him, but it eventually turned to a siege of the town of Tipo-Tipo. On Oct. 26, a civilian named Sayang Ilahin was killed after police officers pursued suspects at a checkpoint within the area of Barangay Tipo-Tipo Proper, Tipo-Tipo, Basilan. As of writing, dialogues between the government and MILF peace panels, local elders, and feuding families are in the process of preventing further bloodshed.
On Oct. 27, police shot dead a father who held hostage four people, including his children aged 5 and 7, in Barangay Sampaloc 4 in Dasmariñas City, Cavite. The man was reportedly suffering from anxiety and had kept himself and his sons locked for two days. When the police arrived at the scene, the man was caught stabbing his 7-year-old son, who eventually survived. By then, he had already stabbed his 5-year-old son to death, and injured a 30-year-old neighbor and her daughter. The three surviving victims were then brought to a hospital.
On Nov. 1, a Police Staff Sergeant named Enrique Gonzalodo Jr. confessed to the crime of killing Kristine Joy Dignadice, a businesswoman, in Negros Occidental. The suspect only surrendered when Dignadice was found lifeless on Oct. 29, with no clothing, hidden under the grass in a remote area. Gonzalodo claims that he only accidentally shot the victim, whom he claims to be his partner. The National Police Commission doubts his claim of accidental murder, while Dignadice’s relatives are doubtful that he was her partner, since he was never mentioned by the victim. NAPOLCOM recommends that the suspect be charged with grave misconduct and conduct unbecoming of a police officer. This was recorded as a case of domestic violence done by the police, which was similar to a case recorded last Aug. 31 where Patrolman Orland Porquido Dinoy, who was drunk that time, shot his live-in partner, Mealjoy Basilgo La Peña, and her mother, Mirla La Peña, during a heated argument in their home in Barangay Aplaya, Digos City, Davao del Sur.
There are two notable fatalities where it is unknown who injured whom, but the incidents occurred during a law enforcement operation. These cases are not part of Sandatahang Dahas’s official numbers because we only include incidents where state agents are clearly involved in lethal or injurious violence. However, we are mentioning them here to illustrate the breadth of state violence in the country this month.
On Oct. 15, a 4-year-old child was killed by a stray bullet, while a 52-year-old bystander named “Flor” was injured during a gunfight between police officers and a suspect named “Reggie,” as the latter was about to be issued an arrest warrant. “Reggie” and other unidentified cohorts managed to escape, while a certain “Romar” was caught by the police. The other case involves the NPA. On Oct. 28, a six-year-old boy was hit by a bullet during the encounter between 62nd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army and 20 members of NPA Central Negros 1. The child was reportedly inside a house 300 meters away from the encounter site. Members of the NPA withdrew and escaped, while some were wounded, according to the commander of the 62nd IB. The hot pursuit operation of police forces is still ongoing to arrest the missing group.
As for the 20 injuries in state-related violence, 16 of the cases happened within law enforcement operations. Civilians assaulting police officers account for 12 of these cases. Meanwhile, seven of those cases involve police officers injuring civilians. The last remaining case is from an unidentified armed group injuring a patrol officer.
In the morning of Oct.4, Patrolman Norsaiden Laguiali was shot by unidentified gunmen after responding to a hit-and-run incident where a Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) chairman was killed and his brother injured at Jose Lim, Sr. street, corner Sinsuat Avenue, Barangay Poblacion 5, Cotabato City, Maguindanao del Norte.
Anti-insurgent operations lower than previous months, but enduring
Following on incidents related to the NPA, three cases involve the killing of alleged members. On the evening of Oct. 5, two elderly members of the NPA named Mateo Suarez alias “Badong” and Roberto Cabales alias “Ted/William/Lloyd” were killed in an alleged encounter in Barangay Coto, Lambunao, Iloilo. It is contested whether the two retaliated against the AFP, since community members and witnesses reported no signs of exchange of gunfire, and they were reportedly unarmed when they were killed. Suarez and Cabales were previously detained on eventually cleared charges, one out of murder and firearms in 2014, and the other enduring a state abduction, torture, and illegal detention in late 1990s. The two were the oldest victims recorded in the Sandatahang Dahas database so far.
On Oct.17, alleged NPA member Jordan Mopon alias “Boyong” was killed in a clash between Army troops and insurgents in Sitio Balagbag, Brgy. San Mateo, Norzagaray, Bulacan. The AFP claims that they followed a tip from local residents of armed individuals extorting civilians. As the 10-minute gunfight continued, the insurgents were forced to retreat northwest, leaving behind “Boyong” as he was killed. Compared to the recorded cases throughout this year, there are notably less cases of police forces killing alleged insurgents in September and October, compared to the numbers of June to August.
Mindanao reddens again as hotspot for state-related violence
For this month, Mindanao has the highest number of casualties with 24 cases, 16 of which are killed and eight are injured. Consistently throughout the year, BARMM remains a region with concentrated numbers of state-related violence. This region also bears the brunt of the drug-related incidents for this month, especially in the provinces of Maguindanao del Norte (6 cases), Sulu (4 incidents), and Cotabato (1 case). Luzon ranks second once again, with a total of 19 cases (10 killed and 9 injured). Visayas ranks third with 10 cases, seven killed and three injured.
While the number of recorded encounters between state forces and alleged insurgents remains fairly low within the months of September and October, armed groups involving drug-related casualties are on the rise, which still indicate increasing trends of state violence. The prevalence of these cases also negates the supposed “bloodless” war on drugs of the Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. administration. Moreover, similar circumstances of police assault against minors and women are a continuing pattern across the past two months. Sandatahang Dahas will continue to record numbers that unravel the systems of peacekeeping sustained by persistent state violence.
(The authors are student assistants of the Third World Studies Center, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines Diliman. Aidrielle Raymundo provided the graphics and additional research assistance. Arrianne Louisse Fajardo counterchecked the data on drug-related killings with those gathered by the Dahas Project. To learn more about Sandatahang Dahas, visit its website and for the latest updates, follow the Dahas Project in these social media platforms: X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky. Reports for the previous months are available at https://dahas.upd.edu.ph/sd-monthly-reports/.)
