{"id":11718,"date":"2025-07-15T00:55:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T23:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/?p=11718"},"modified":"2025-07-14T15:56:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T14:56:16","slug":"trans-rights-activist-and-former-journalist-killed-in-general-santos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/trans-rights-activist-and-former-journalist-killed-in-general-santos\/","title":{"rendered":"Trans rights activist and former journalist killed in General Santos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trans rights and human rights advocate Ali Jejhon Macalintal, 39, was shot<\/a> dead on June 23, 2025, in her acupuncture clinic in General Santos City. A former journalist, Macalintal also served<\/a> as deputy secretary general of the human rights group Karapatan for the Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani und General Santos City) region in Mindanao.<\/p>\n

Police are investigating<\/a> whether her murder was linked to her work as \u00a0a journalist.<\/p>\n

An unidentified man reportedly entered<\/a> Macalintal\u2019s clinic around 7 a.m., shot her three times, and fled on a motorcycle. She was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead on arrival.<\/p>\n

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) linked<\/a> Macalintal\u2019s murder to a disturbing pattern of transfemicide in the Philippines, highlighting the urgent need for anti-discrimination laws.<\/p>\n

As a former broadcaster<\/a> with RPN XDX and human rights advocate in the Soccsksargen region, Macalintal was well-known for her tireless activism. She worked<\/a> on several fact-finding missions across Mindanao, exposing human rights abuses during the martial law period under the former Rodrigo Duterte administration. She was also an outspoken advocate for the rights of Muslims, Indigenous peoples, and the LGBTIQ+<\/a> community.<\/p>\n

Macalintal had long faced<\/a> threats tied to her activism. In 2002, she was arrested and falsely accused<\/a> of participating in a deadly bombing – charges that were dismissed after eight years in detention due to lack of evidence. During her incarceration, she was reportedly tortured<\/a> and denied access to psychological care.<\/p>\n

Human Rights Watch noted that Macalintal received<\/a> death threats as recently as 2024, and that she had reported harassment by state forces. Despite these warnings, she continued to speak out. \u201cShe was never afraid to speak truth to power and expose uncomfortable truths,\u201d said<\/a> Reyna Valmores Salinas, spokesperson for the LGBTIQ+ rights group Bahaghari.<\/p>\n

The timing of her murder is especially chilling – it occurred<\/a> during Pride Month, and just days after a United Nations Special Rapporteur criticized the Philippines for its slow investigations into attacks on journalists and activists.<\/p>\n

Human rights groups, including Karapatan, Human Rights Watch, Forum Asia<\/a>, and the CHR, condemned the killing and called<\/a> for a full investigation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo \u00a9 Raffy Lerma<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trans rights and human rights advocate Ali Jejhon Macalintal, 39, was shot dead on June 23, 2025, in her acupuncture clinic in General Santos City. A former journalist, Macalintal also served as deputy secretary general of the human rights group Karapatan for the Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani und General Santos City) region […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6746,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[73,63,58,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aktuelles-en","category-human-rights-defenders","category-human-rights-news","category-news-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11718"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11838,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11718\/revisions\/11838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}