The RMP-NMR said the soldiers were using the same tactic they used in the so-called capture of civilians Gloria Jandayan and Gleceria Balangiao who were later presented by the battalion as fake New People’s Army surrenderees.
Alminaza pointed out that “martial law is neither the answer to the centuries-old agrarian problem nor to the decades of armed rebellion.”
“I admit I am one of the very few members in this hall who may have only finished elementary education and finds it difficult to understand English words or read them. I am living proof of the government’s failure to provide education for everyone because the nearest school from where I live is 20 kilometers away,” Cullamat said in Filipino.
“I will still stand together with the union to fight for our rights. I do this for our children,” Romeo said.
“We believe that they are victims of death squads attached to the military and police in Negros island meant to intimidate the people against supporting the armed resistance of the NPA,” the CPP said. “Many of them have been previously publicly tagged as sympathizers of the NPA.”
Jacinto brushed off police and military attempts to lay the blame for the killings on the rebels, saying many of those killed, including local government officials, were known “progressives” who “sympathized with and supported the peasants’ struggles.”
An initial report from the Canlaon police identified the victim as Anaciancino Rosalita, married, of Barangay Bucalan, who was shot dead at the Oval Public Market in Barangay Panubigan.
By Visayas Today All four CatholIc bishops of Negros island have ordered “church bells in all parishes, chaplaincies, mission stations, and religious houses every evening
“Today, in Canlaon City and in Ayungon, Negros Oriental, four lives again perished from gun barrels of criminals. When life is always sacred, these criminals have treated life as dispensable.”–San Carlos Bishop Gerardo A. Alminaza
Authorities claimed they were communist rebels who allegedly fought back when served search warrants but their families all gave closely similar accounts indicating they were executed.
