A regional health group and human rights organizations are calling for the protection and release of physician Ana Marie “Doc Ana” Rilloraza, one of the seven alleged communist rebels arrested in a joint police and military raid on March 11, 2026.
Rilloraza was arrested, along with Gabriel Kennedy Bangibang, Theresa Forag, Ranee Francella Tuazon, Renato Ginez, Marc Mendiola, and Javar Sugao, at a house on Pag-asa Street in Barangay Baras-Baras, Tarlac City.
According to the 501st Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army, they are all facing charges of attempted murder and illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Rilloraza recounted that around 100 police and military personnel, some masked and without nameplates, raided the house where she was staying before dawn. She identified herself as a doctor caring for patients. As the state security forces came in, she saw one man carrying a large bag into a room. Barangay* officials only arrived after the state security forces had left, by which time firearms and explosives had been presented as supposed evidence.
Rilloraza was taken to the Candon City jail on March 15, 2026, and later moved to the provincial jail.
The Council for Health and Development (CHD), a national organization of community-based health programs in the Philippines, said in a statement that “these baseless accusations are an attack” not only on Rilloraza but on the broader movement for health, justice, and human rights.
According to CHD, Rilloraza is a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine and a founding member of PAGSAMA, a community-based student organization of UP’s College of Medicine. She joined CHESTCORE (Community Health Education, Services, and Training in the Cordillera Region) after graduation and served indigenous and rural communities, leading medical missions and training hundreds of locals to become community health workers, empowering sustainable health programs.
CHESTCORE urged authorities to ensure humane treatment and due process for Rilloraza and others who were taken into custody by the state security forces due to false accusations.
The Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) said Rilloraza and her companions were unarmed at the time of their arrest, rejecting police accusations of illegal possession of weapons as fabricated. CHRA alleges that the detainees were subjected to physical and verbal abuse by arresting officers, including beatings and being forced to lie face down.
* The “barangay” is the lowest level of political administration in the Philippines.
Photo © Raffy Lerma