Ali Macalintal

Ali Jejhon "Toti" Macalintal (–June 23, 2025) was a Filipino human rights activist and radio journalist. Macalintal first came to public attention in 2002 when she was arrested and wrongfully convicted alongside two others in relation to the Fitmart Mall bombing, which killed 15 people. Macalintal and her co-defendants became known as the GenSan Three, and following public pressure, the three were acquitted of all charges in 2010 after eight years of imprisonment. Macalintal went on to play an organisational role in human rights organisations including Karapatan and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and became known for her activism in respect of LGBTQ, Moro and indigenous communities on Mindanao. From 2019, Macalintal worked as a broadcaster on various radio stations in General Santos, where she was shot and killed in June 2025 by an unknown assailant.

Education Ali Macalintal studied mass communication at Ramon Magsasay Memorial College in General Santos.

Background Implication in the 2002 Fitmart Mall bombing 2002 arrest and trial On April 21, 2002, a bombing occurred at the Fitmart Mall in General Santos, resulting in the deaths of 15 people. On April 24, a police raid occurred at Purok Lote, Barangay Calumpang, General Santos, in which three Moro members of Bayan Muna, a leftist political party, were arrested. The police stated that the address had been traced following a phone call made by Macalintal on one of the other defendant's mobile phone to Bayan Telecommunications on April 23, alleging that there were bombs surrounding its office building. Macalintal acknowledged having made the phone call but stated that she had done so after she was held at gunpoint by multiple unknown assailants. On June 18, 2002, Macalintal and her co-defendants were charged with possessing illegal explosives in breach of Presidential Decree 1866.

2010 retrial and acquittal In the years following the trial, Macalintal and her co-defendants became known as the GenSan Three, with activists raising concerns that they had been the victims of red-tagging by government authorities due to their membership of Bayan Muna which the government had deemed to be sympathetic to the cause of the New People's Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. In 2010, after eight years of detainment, Macalintal and her co-defendants were acquitted of all charges by the Regional Trial Court in General Santos, which found the evidence against them "inadmissible" and the case against them "a straightforward violation of due process", with it being found that evidence had been "planted" on Macalintal and her co-defendants following an illegal police raid.

Macalintal subsequently reported that she had been tortured and mistreated while in state custody. The Asian Human Rights Commission, while praising the outcome of the retrial, called on authorities to investigate Bartolome Balayut, the former police director of Soccsksargen, for the illegal arrest and torture of the GenSan Three, in addition to planting false evidence.

Killing and response At around 07:00 (UTC+8) on June 23, 2025, Macalintal was shot three times in the abdomen by a hooded gunman at a spa in Barangay Lagao, General Santos. The local police stated whether the shooting was linked to her human rights activism, her links with leftist political parties, her former broadcasting work with RPN and Bandera News, or recent business ventures she had made concerning her beauty business.

The human rights organisation Karpatan, for whom Macalintal had previously worked, released a statement alleging that Macalintal had told them in 2024 that she was being harassed by members of Task Force Gensan, a security force associated with the Armed Forces of the Philippines based in General Santos, including them visiting the homes of her neighbour and cousin to query her whereabouts.

Amnesty International Philippines noted that Macalintal's killing occurred during Pride Month, as well as days after the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression presented her final report on the Philippines which found that attacks on journalists and slow investigations into crimes committed against them had continued under the Marcos presidency. The Presidential Task Force on Media Security pledged a "thorough enquiry" with local police to investigate if there were any links between Macalintal's killing and her media work.