A Catholic bishop on Tuesday, April 28 called for an independent investigation into the deadly weekend clash in Toboso, Negros Occidental, saying key questions remain unanswered amid conflicting accounts from authorities and rights groups.

Nineteen people were killed on April 19 in an encounter between government troops and suspected communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in a remote sugarcane-growing area.

The military maintained that those killed were insurgents, but human rights advocates disputed the claim, saying some of the victims were civilians, including a student leader and a local journalist.

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San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza said the incident raises troubling and unresolved questions, particularly on whether all those killed were armed combatants.

“The incident in Toboso has left not only lives lost, but questions that remain painfully unresolved,” Alminaza said in a statement released by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

He urged authorities, media, and the public to avoid premature conclusions and instead support a credible, transparent, and impartial review of the security operation.

“We stand not at the end of a story, but at the beginning of a moral responsibility,” said Alminaza, who also heads Caritas Philippines.

Alminaza stressed that every human life is sacred and warned that labels such as “suspect” or “collateral damage” must not diminish human dignity.

He said the use of state force carries a grave responsibility that requires not only legality, but also accountability and full public transparency.

The bishop called for an impartial inquiry by appropriate institutions, protection for witnesses and grieving families, and full disclosure of evidence surrounding the operation.

“Without truth, there can be no justice. Without justice, there can be no peace,” he said.

Last weekend, the Commission on Human Rights said it has started an investigation into the incident.

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