By Brooklynn Brown

The University of Maryland community gathered for a vigil honoring five months since the Negros 19 Massacre on Friday evening. Attendees demanded justice for the victims, including two Filipino American citizens, Kai Sorem and Lyle Prijoles, along with Christina Pasion and Benai Serrano who are both facing state violence. They are political prisoners in the Philippines.

On April 19, the Phillipine Army murdered 19 people in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental. 

“Soldiers surrounded all 19 of them while they were waist-deep in muddy water while exhausted and restrained. How do you expect them to fight back?” Nevan McMillan, a junior mechanical engineering major, said. “They didn’t give any of them a chance to surrender. They slaughtered every last one of them.”

Jamie Kirk, co-chair of the Frederick Democratic Socialists of America, said the victims included a journalist, two American activists, two Filipino activists, and members of the community. The Filipino community learned that soldiers had massacred them in a fish pond and were shaken by it. 

“Children are traumatized as well. They cling onto their parents and are even scared to go anywhere alone,” Kirk said.

Communities are honoring and remembering this tragic event by organizing vigils and other events along both coasts, according to Kirk.

Philippians also hold vigils to pay respect to not just Kai Sorem and Lyle Prijilos, but the members of both the Philippines and U.S. community continue to honor their legacy and to fight for human rights.

Vivian Pasion, an organizer with the Baltimore Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, stands up for these victims, including her wife Christina Pasion.

“The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippines national police arrested my wife,” Pasion said. “When I first got the news she was arrested I thought, ‘thank gosh she’s still alive, she’s only been arrested.’” 

Shubh Agnihotri, a junior electrical engineering major, said the tragedy has affected the Filipino community on campus. 

“We have a very large Filipino population here at UMD,” Agnihotri said. “We have organizations like TerpCHRP and Students for Justice in Palestine on campus for people to connect to what happened. I know people that were directly affected by this. I know some people who knew people who were killed and have suffered other tragedies because of this.”

Rio Gutierrez, a senior public health science major, said the broader goal is a better future in the Phillipines, where people have opportunities at home and Filipino Americans can remain connected to their culture and history. 

“We have a duty as Filipino Americans to make sure that our education, our money doesn’t go towards killing or hurting Filipinos back at home, those people could be our families,” Gutierrez said.

Featured Image: Victims pictures are displayed besides candles and flowers at a vigil for the Negros 19 Massacre on September 18, 2026. Photo by Brooklynn Brown.