GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Human rights groups are raising alarms after Warren Cahayag, a founding paralegal for the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM), was critically wounded in a shooting Monday evening in Barangay Calumpang.

Cahayag was attacked around 7:30 p.m. in Purok Bliss by two unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen. He sustained five gunshot wounds and is under critical medical observation. Authorities have not yet identified the assailants or established a motive.

UPLM issued a strong statement condemning the shooting, framing it as part of a broader pattern of violence targeting human rights defenders, particularly in Mindanao.

“These systematic assaults aim to create a chilling effect — sowing fear, silencing dissent and paralyzing the vital work of those who serve the marginalized,” said the group.

The attack on Cahayag follows other disturbing incidents in the region. On 23 June 2025, Ali Jejhon “Toti” Macalintal, a former UPLM paralegal, transgender rights activist and radio commentator, was shot dead inside her acupuncture clinic in General Santos City by an unidentified gunman posing as a client.

Previously, on 15 September 2021, Atty. Juan Macababbad, a prominent UPLM lawyer, was gunned down outside his home in Surallah, South Cotabato; that case remains unsolved.

UPLM has called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to recognize what they describe as a human rights crisis in Mindanao and to address the killings in his public addresses. The group also demanded the formation of a dedicated, credible task force led by Philippine National Police chief Police General Nicolas Torre III, a native of South Cotabato, to thoroughly investigate these cases and hold both perpetrators and masterminds accountable.