A 12-hour firefight on 19 April between Philippine government forces and suspected communist New People's Army (NPA) rebels in the remote village of Sitio Sinugmawan, in Toboso town on Negros Occidental island, left 19 people dead, including a wanted rebel commander carrying a one-million-peso bounty. The clash displaced over 650 residents from nearby communities, who are now sheltering in evacuation centres. San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza issued a pastoral letter mourning all the dead regardless of affiliation, warning that "violence does not arise in a vacuum" but takes root in poverty and broken trust, while the University of the Philippines Office of the Student Regent condemned what it called the continued militarisation of Negros Island and urged forces to comply with international human rights law.