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Reds say ambushed troopers ‘armed, ready to fight’

CPP: AFP unit involved in May 2020 massacre in Sorsogon

The New People’s Army (NPA) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denied the two soldiers killed in an ambush in Camalig, Albay last February 20 were part of the search and retrieval operations for the victims of the plane crash on Mayon Volcano.

In a statement, Santos Binamera Command (NPA-Albay) spokesperson Florante Orobia said the two soldiers of the 31st Infantry Battallion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) were buying supplies at a market place around 7:20 AM when fired upon by its partisans.

Orobia said Private First Class (PFC) Mark June Esico and PFC John Dave Adcolin were also part of the security detail of an infrastructure project in the same town at the time of the incident.

The CPP said in a separate statement issued to journalists that the ambush was a legitimate military operation against government soldiers actively involved in counterinsurgency operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

“Military supply lines comprise an important aspect of war operations…Disrupting the AFP’s supply lines are among the tactics for waging guerrilla warfare,” CPP spokesperson Marco Valbuena said.

Earlier, Philippine Army 9th Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Adonis Bajao claimed the two soldiers were assigned to extend assistance to the search and retrieval operations of the four victims of a plane crash on Mayon Volcano.

Bajao added that the ambush was in retaliation to his division’s successes against the NPA in the Bicol region.

The CPP however said the soldiers were armed, ready to engage in battle when ambushed, and a .45 caliber pistol was in fact taken from them.

“The claim of the 9th ID that the troops were preparing for search and rescue operations over a missing Cessna plane is a sorry PR attempt to gloss over the brutal counterinsurgency record of the 31st IB, in the hope of gaining public sympathy,” Valbuena said.

The CPP spokesperson said the two soldiers’ unit is responsible for scores of human rights violations, including the May 8, 2020 massacre of five farmer in Bulan, Sorsogon.

He added the 31st IBPA was also involved in other cases of killings, torture, illegal arrests and detention, threats and harassments of farming communities in Sorsogon and Camarines Sur provinces.

“The partisan operations of the NPA in Albay point to the fact that armed guerrilla operations in Bicol continue to expand. It shows the ability of the NPA to deploy teams anywhere in order to strike at enemy military targets,” Valbuena said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Rights group denounces harassment of humanitarian mission to Bondoc Peninsula

LGU says AFP-NPA firefight still raging since Sunday

Human rights group Karapatan condemned the harassment of its humanitarian mission in the Bondoc Peninsula in Quezon Province where a firefight between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the New People’s Army had been raging since the weekend.

In a statement, Karapatan said its mission had been subjected to a series of threats and harassments by the 85th Infantry Battallion-Philippine Army (IBPA) in Catanauan and Mulanay towns on Monday.

The team is assisting families of alleged NPA members reported to have been killed in the town of San Francisco, the group explained.

Karapatan said its 16-member humanitarian mission travelled on Monday to San Francisco but was met with numerous combined military and police checkpoints along the way.

“Yesterday, Tuesday, the two vehicles of the mission were impounded in Catanauan town for alleged Land Transportation Office violations. State forces also interrogated drivers of vehicles of the mission teams, inquiring names of all the passengers,” Karapatan said.

Stranded, the humanitarian mission members were forced to spend the night in Catanauan as suspected military agents tailed them to the place where they stayed.

At around one in the morning of Tuesday, they were alerted when they heard that police elements were inquiring on their whereabouts, the group reported.

On Wednesday, the mission tried to resume travel but they were held again at a checkpoint near the Polytechnic University of the Philippines campus in Mulanay town.

“Meanwhile, the drivers who went to the LTO office in Catanauan, were confronted by the LTO chief and a police official and were reportedly forcing them to admit that their passengers were members of the NPA,” Karapatan said.

“They were likewise threatened that they will be charged with more violations and be permanently banned from travelling to Quezon,” the group added.

Violation of the rules of war

Karapatan’s allegations run counter to announcements made by the 85th IBPA who said they are giving three NPA casualties a decent wake at the old San Francisco municipal hall.

Philippine Army troopers bringing an alleged wounded NPA fighter to a San Francisco, Quezon facility. (85th IBPA photo)

In a social media post, the army unit said it will only tender the remains to “true relatives of the deceased.”

The 85th IBPA also uploaded videos and photographs of its troopers giving medical aid to an alleged NPA fighter wounded in the firefight last Sunday.

But Karapatan said its mission’s and the families’ failure to reach San Francisco belies AFP’s propaganda of adherence to the rules of war.

“State forces and government agencies are in full connivance in violation of basic rights of persons to travel, for human rights groups to provide assistance, and worse, they are impeding assistance for the families of the dead,” Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said.

San Francisco, Quezon LGU announcement of suspension of classes due to the ongoing firefight in the municipality.

“Barring the families, and not allowing a civilian humanitarian mission to assist them retrieve their dead, violate provisions in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL),” she explained.

The CARHRIHL, an agreement signed by the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines cites the International Humanitarian Law governing the conduct of war, including allowing family members to retrieve the remains of those killed.

The mission and the relatives with them have yet to recover the bodies the victims.

Karapatan also called on the Commission on Human Rights to probe into possible human rights violations in the ongoing military operation.

Meanwhile, the local government of San Francisco has announced the suspension of classes in 11 barangays from Wednesday to the rest of the school week.

San Francisco Mayor Francisco Edano said the firefight is still ongoing, affecting eleven of their town’s barangays and prompting him to suspend classes. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

NPA-Negros regional spokesperson Juanito Magbanua dies

Guerrillas claim gov’t troopers summarily-killed ailing leader

The spokesperson of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros Island had been killed by government troopers Monday afternoon, the communist guerrilla’s regional command confirmed.

Juanito Magbanua, spokesperson of the NPA’s Apolinario Gatmaitan Command (AGC), was killed by Philippine Army’s 94th Infantry Battalion (IB) troopers in Sitio Medel, Barangay Carabalan, Himamaylan City at around 5:45 in the afternoon, the group announced.

The NPA however said Magbanua (born Romeo V. Nanta) was summarily-killed as there was no clash in the area and only four shots were fired that ended the ailing rebel spokesperson’s life.

The AGC said Magbanua was suffering from hypertension and arthritis and chose to stay at Sitio Medel to closely monitor the mass evacuation of civilians as well as the NPA’s manoeuvres during the ongoing military operations in the area.

[WHAT WENT BEFORE] Philippine Army orders mass evacuation in Himamaylan City

The 303rd Infantry Brigade ordered the evacuation of thousands of civilians last weekend following a clash with the NPA’s Mt. Cansermon Command that killed two government soldiers and injured six others.

The NPA said Magbanua was captured and should have been accorded hors de combat (unable to fight) status.

B/Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, claimed that Magbanua was killed during a 10-minute clash between the 94th IB and 10 NPA fighters.

Magbanua’s remains was brought to Himamaylan City proper where he was identified.

The NPA said it mourns Magbanua’s death and vowed to exact justice for his “cold-blooded murder.”

“This is a day of mourning for all comrades, revolutionary forces, friends and family and especially the exploited and oppressed masses, not only in Negros but the whole country,” the NPA said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Philippine Army orders mass evacuation in Himamaylan City

More than 15,000 residents of Barangays Carabalan and Cabadiangan of Himamaylan City have reportedly sought refuge in evacuation centers this morning following the imposition of a week-long lockdown by government forces starting last weekend.

The 303rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army (PA) ordered civilians to either vacate their homes or stay indoors as pursuit operations are being conducted against New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.

The evacuations were ordered after the 94th Infantry Brigade of the PA clashed with a unit of the NPA’s Mt. Cansermon Command last Thursday, September 6, at Sitio Sig-ang, Brgy. Carabalan, Himamaylan.

Those ordered to evacuate are residents of Sitios Palayan, Tongo and Guia of Barangay Cabadiangan as well as several sitios of Barangay Biao.

Earlier, the NPA said government troops bombed sitio Double Yarding of Barangay Mahalang last October 7 that lasted 20 minutes.

Sitios Cunalom, Casipungan, Cambulan, Pangi and Igaw of Barangay Carabalan were also bombed by the Philippine Army, the rebels said, adding government troops also destroyed houses and slaughtered farm animals.

Philippine Army justifies evacuations

Meanwhile, PA’s 94th IB announced on its Facebook page that two of its soldiers died while six others were injured in Thursday’s fire fight .

The Region 6 Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF6-ELCAC) has justified the military’s evacuation orders but admitting to only 290 families or 1190 individuals evacuated in seven refugee centers in the city.

“The evacuation of these families is necessary so that they will not be use(d)…as human shields or as hostages to deter the pursuing army troopers,” RTF6-ELCAC spokesperson Flosemer Chris Gonzales said.

Gonzales also criticized local social media news outlets and “some ill-informed media outfits” for so-called “heavily slanted and heavily-biased news articles” of the October 6 clash.

‘Rights violations after defeat’

The NPA’s Apolinario Gatmaitan Command said the PA’s evacuation order on civilians is the result of its frustration over its October 6 defeat.

Juanito Magbanua, the Negros Island Regional NPA spokesperson added that the PA is also extending their pursuit operations to increase its expenses that “give way to their corruption and at the expense of “terrorized” civilians.

The National Democratic Front in Negros meanwhile called on the local government of Himamaylan City to protect its constituents.

“The local government unit (LGU) of Himamaylan City should not just standby and allow these attacks against its constituents. The LGU should assert civilian supremacy and demand an end to the militarization of Himamaylan City,” NDF-Negros spokesperson Bayani Obrero said in a separate statement.

Obrero also stressed “utmost urgency to demand respect for human rights and observance of international humanitarian law,” in the face of military-imposed forced evacuations, bombings, threats of airstrikes and militarization of Negros Island. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Lumad teacher arrested in Surigao, farmer-couple missing in Negros

Groups reveal continuing rights violations under new Marcos government

A Lumad volunteer teacher was arrested by the police in Tandag City, Surigao del Sur last Sunday while a farmer-couple were taken by government soldiers in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental last Friday, various groups reported.

In an alert, human rights group Karapatan-Caraga said Gary S. Campos was arrested by police officers while on his way to a review center at about one o’clock in the afternoon and was taken by his arresters all the way to Butuan City, Agusan del Norte.

Succeeding to contact friends only at about eight o’clock that evening, Campos told them he was presented with a warrant of arrest by the police but was unable to disclose the nature of the charges, Karapatan said.

Campos is preparing to take the professional licensure examination for teachers and is currently a volunteer teacher at a local Department of Education school.

A Lumad Manobo, Campos was an alumnus of both the Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur (TRIFPSS) and Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV), Lumad schools that have been the victim of military and paramilitary occupation, arson, harassment, closure and killing of its officials and other volunteer teachers throughout the Rodrigo Duterte administration.

Upon graduation, he volunteered as a TRIFPSS teacher.

When the government and the military closed down the Lumad schools, Campos went back to college and graduated with an education degree from St. Theresa’s College-Tandag as a scholar of the Indigenous People’s Apostolate of the Catholic Diocese of Tandag.

Farmer-couple missing

Meanwhile, a farmer-couple were taken from their home in Himamaylan City by government soldiers in the dead of night last July 15, the underground New People’s Army (NPA) announced on social media.

Geral Ganti and partner Dalen Alipo-on, both members of the local Mahalang Farmers’ Association were taken by troopers of the 94th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) from their home at 11:30 at the evening and have not been seen since, Mt. Cansermon Command-NPA spokesperson Dionesio Magbuelas said.

Magbuelas said that about 20 soldiers arrived in the community, forced the couple from their house and were later taken away on board motor vehicles.

Relatives of the couple have reportedly informed the police of the incident but have not been informed of their whereabouts in the last four days since the abduction.

The couple have two young children, the NPA said.

Magbuelas added that the couple have been repeated victims of red-tagging by the military and have also been told to submit themselves to authorities as so-called NPA surrenderees.

94th IBPA’s Facebook page has no post related to the allegation.

The NPA challenged local government officials in Negros Island to look into reports of human rights violations in their areas. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Aklan activists demand military withdrawal from communities

‘Special Ops’ targeting chairperson and spokesperson, BAYAN says

Activists in Aklan province called on the military and police to stop its operations targeting their leaders and demanded the withdrawal of army troops in civilian communities.

In an alert, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Aklan said it condemns the harassment against its chairperson George Calaor and spokesperson Kim-Sin Tugna, as well as members of peoples’s organizations and other civilians.

“We will hold the 301st Brigade of the Philippine Army, the local PNP, and the Duterte government responsible for any harm done to Calaor and Tugna,” the group said.

BAYAN-Aklan reported that a coordinated police and military operation is ongoing against its leaders and members that is “clearly intended to sow fear and silence activists like Calaor and Tugna.”

“This could be a prelude to a wider violent crackdown in the province and region. We remember how state forces previously attacked communities in Capiz and Iloilo which led to massacres and extrajudicial killings,” the group added.

The Philippine Army denied BAYAN’s accusations.

‘Only for training’

In a statement, 301st Infantry Brigade-Philippine Army commander Brig. Gen. Marion Sison said the presence of soldiers Barangay Cawayan, New Washington, and Barangay Poblacion, Kalibo, is part of a 45-day immersion phase as students of the Civil-Military Operations Competency Enhancement Training (CMOCET).

“CMOCET is an In-Service Training of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division Training School focused on “community consultations and problem-solving sessions,” the general said.

“CMOCET students were not deployed to conduct surveillance on anyone but to apply their learning through community visitations, dialogues, symposiums, and awareness drives,” he added.

Sison also said that the deployment has the approval of local government officials.

Surveillance against activists

BAYAN-Aklan however reported that the soldiers are conducting surveillance operations against Tugna and Calaor, both red-tagging victims by the military.

The group said that Barangay Poblacion chairperson Neil Candelario has confirmed that a “special operation” is being conducted against the Calaor, also a well-established poet, and Tugna.

“In fact, our (Calaor and Tugna) pictures were first shown to him (Candelario) while investigating our persons to the Punong Barangay. It was also the barangay captain who told us about the “special operation” as verbalized by their personnel when they a paid courtesy call to Punong Barangay Candelario on June 20, 2022,” BAYAN-Aklan revealed.

“Moreover, there are people in the communities that can confirm their surveillance activities against Mr. Tugna and Mr. Calaor,” it added.

The group said it fears that the “special operations” would lead to warrantless searches and arrests, and possibly, extra-judicial killings, recalling the massacre of nine Tumandok indigenous persons and the arrest of 17 others in December 2020.

Like the massacre and mass-arrest victims, BAYAN-AKlan leaders and members have been the subject of intensified vilification and red-tagging by the military and the police, it added.

BAYAN-Aklan said the military have no business being in civilian communities except to so fear among the populace. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Military cremates Oris’ remains; CPP furious

Government troops have cremated Jorge Madlos’ remains and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is furious.

Reacting to reports that the slain rebel leader’s remains were cremated, CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena said in a statement that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is trying to get away with murder.

“The AFP’s lies to cover up their murder of Ka Oris (Madlos) and Ka Pika (his aide Eighfel Dela Peña) just continue to pile up. They are trying to get away with murder by burning all evidence, when they had Ka Oris’ remains cremated with dispatch, on the pretext of Covid-19 protocols,” Valbuena said.

“They did not even have the human decency to wait for the family to view his remains for the last time,” he added.

A Rappler report said that Philippine Army 4th Infantry Division commander Major General Romeo Brawner Jr., announced on Wednesday, November 3, that the swab test performed on Madlos showed he was COVID-19 positive and his remains were turned over to the town government of Impasug-ong, Bukidnon.

Brawner said the town’s COVID-19 task force took Madlos to the Divine Shepherd Crematorium in Cagayan de Oro City for cremation and returned the ashes back to Impasug-ong.

Brawner reportedly said it would be up to the Impasug-ong town government to decide to whom the urn would be given.

Rappler’s report added that younger brother Rito was on his way to Bukidnon to collect the ashes.

The CPP however questioned the move, asking who gave the AFP the right to decide to cremate Madlos’s remains?

“If they wanted to follow protocols, then Ka Oris’ remains could (and should) have been buried in Impasug-ong, especially since there are no cremation facilities in Bukidnon,” Valbuena said.

The CPP spokesperson also noted that Department of Health COVID-19 protocols do not provide cremation as the only option for disposing of remains.

“This further reinforces our view that the AFP is covering-up their crime,” Valbuena said.

Valbuena added that by unilaterally having Madlos’ remains cremated, the AFP has also eliminated all chances of clearing their (military’s) name.

Madlos and Dela Peña were reportedly on board a motorcycle from Impasug-ong on their way to a medical treatment session when killed by 4thID troopers.

The NPA spokesperson is publicly known to be suffering from renal failure for years.

In separate statements, the CPP and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines-North East Mindanao Region alleged Madlos was waylaid when he is unarmed and was in no condition to fight on Friday, October 29.

Valbuena said that even if Madlos was indeed COVID-19 infected, the military should not have feared having independent pathologists perform an autopsy.

He noted that the same tactic was used on fallen rebel leader Kerima Tariman’s remains in Negros Island that the military agreed to give back to her family only after being cremated.

“Indeed, cremation has become part of the AFP’s protocol to hide their crimes and prop up a false image of respecting human rights,” Valbuena said.

The tactic violates cultural sensitivities, Valbuena said, adding in a separate statement that the AFP “set aside honor in facing an adversary.”

“In waging war, it is natural to win some and lose some. But there are rules that govern war that humanity have established in the course of civilization. Ka Oris, himself, did not preclude himself getting killed in battle,” Valbuena explained.

Madlos was erstwhile NDFP-Mindanao spokesperson before becoming spokesperson of the New People’s Army’s national operational command in 2016.

In its second national congress in the same year, the CPP elected him as a member of its Central Committee, its Political Bureau, and its Executive Committee.

The CPP congress also tasked Madlos to be among the leading cadres in the CPP’s Military Commission and its Mindanao Commission.

He was also assigned as a consultant of the NDFP in peace negotiations.

Madlos is the most senior CPP cadre to die at the hands of the AFP after fellow CPP Central Committee, Political Bureau and Executive Committee stalwart Julius Giron who died in a military raid in Baguio City last March 13. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

CPP to AFP: Give Oris’ remains back to his family

“Ka Oris had long wished to return to Siargao Island where he grew up as a boy. Perhaps, his wish could be fulfilled.”–CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said it supports the wishes of Ka Oris’ family to retrieve his remains and conduct a proper wake for the fallen New People’s Army (NPA) spokesperson.

In a statement, CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena said that the military is engaged in a cover-up of the real circumstances surrounding Oris and his aide’s deaths and their families are in a position to demand for an autopsy by an independent pathologist.

Oris (born Jorge Madlos) and his aide the CPP identified as Ka Pika (Eighfel Dela Peña) were killed on Friday in Sitio Gabunan, Barangay Dumalaguing, Impasug-ong town in Bukidnon.

The CPP’s statement came after reports quoted 403rd Infantry Brigade commander Brig. Gen. Ferdinand Barandon saying Oris and Pika will be buried at the “encounter site” if found to be COVID-19 positive.

A Rappler report said the military showed to reporters a photograph of a dead person who resembled Oris being swabbed for COVID-19 at the “encounter site.”

Barandon reportedly  said Oris’ remains was swabbed so that samples could be tested for COVID-19, citing other NPA rebels killed in clashes with the military or have been arrested since October showed COVID-19 symptoms.

If the swab tests turn up negative, Barandon said the bodies would be brought down to Impasug-ong town proper and turned over to the Philippine National Police.

Valbuena said Oris had long wished to return to Siargao Island where he grew up.

“Perhaps, his wish could be fulfilled,” the CPP spokesperson said.

Murder

In his statement, Valbuena echoed National Democratic Front of the Philippines-North East Mindanao Region spokesperson and Oris’ widow Maria Malaya’s accusation that the NPA spokesperson and his aide were murdered and not killed in an encounter.

“Ka Oris and aide Eighfel Dela Peña (Ka Pika) were both unarmed when ambushed. Whether they were ambushed while moving or were accosted and thereafter executed is still unclear,” Valbuena said.

In a news conference at Camp Osito Bahian in Malaybalay City, Major General Romeo Brawner Jr., commander of the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division, claimed Oris and Pika were killed in an encounter with 8th Infantry Battalion, the 1st Special Forces Battalion, and Scout Ranger soldiers.

Malaya however said Oris and Pika were riding a motorcycle on their way to seek medical treatment.

The elderly Oris was publicly known to have suffered from renal failure for years.

 “Clearly, however, they were not in a position to give battle or fight back and were murdered in cold-blood,” Valbuena said.

Cover-up

Valbuena added the aerial strikes in the vicinity of Barangay Dumalaguing the military first claimed killed Oris were done four hours after the NPA spokesperson and his aide were killed.

“For around two hours, from 12:40 a.m. to past 2 a.m. the AFP dropped at least six large bombs, fired dozens of rockets and strafed the mountainside shattering the peace and causing fear and panic among the people,” he said.

The bombing was to conceal the military’s “crime of murdering unarmed revolutionaries and create a false picture of an armed encounter,” he said.

“They then issued a fat lie claiming of an armed encounter at 11 am (10 hours later) where Ka Oris and Ka Pica were supposedly killed,” Valbuena said.

The CPP said that Brawner and other 4th ID officers’ statements to reporters were brazen lies.

“They are utterly dishonorable officers for propagating false information. We hold Gen. Brawner and the men and officers of the 403 IBde responsible for the murder of Ka Oris and Ka Pica and its coverup,” he said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

A Call to the Philippine Army: Respect for Press Freedom in Word and Deed

STATEMENT: September 27, 2021

The Freedom for Media Freedom for All (FMFA) a coalition of press freedom advocates, condemns the Philippine Army’s Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) cyberattacks on the websites of two alternative media organizations, Bulatlat and AlterMidya, as assaults on press freedom and free expression.  

We call on the press and the media community as well as free expression groups to join their voices in the collective resistance of these violations of Constitutionally-protected rights.

Philippine Army spokespersons have denied responsibility for the attacks. But the government’s own Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), through its Computer Emergency Response Team has traced these actions to the Internet Protocol (IP) address assigned to the PA.

DDOS attacks overwhelm websites with fake traffic and makes them inaccessible. It is no more than a form of censorship repugnant to any society that claims to be a democracy. 

Information has always been crucial to the exercise of a people’s sovereign will that is the core of a democracy. A free press must provide a diversity of views so that society can engage in the decision-making process, debate and argumentation that is crucial to good governance.  

It is specially vital today when, besieged by a pandemic and in preparation of national elections in 2022, Filipinos must be able to decide who will lead them for the next six years after the end of this administration. The Filipino people are called to make one of the most important decisions in the country’s political history. 

The Philippine Army is sworn to defend the country and protect the people. Its service does not operate in the political sphere. In contrast, the press in providing news is necessarily engaged in political affairs. The Army’s interference in the conduct of news organizations over reaches the military mandate. Even as it claims to respect press freedom, these recent actions have directly attacked the press, an institution protected by nothing less than the Constitution. 

Since the military by its function is not a repository of democratic values, we call on our soldiers to cease forthwith this insidious campaign to silence media and its members; to limit citizen access to views and perspectives that may differ from those held by the government in power. 

The Philippine Army should demonstrate the respect for press freedom in deeds as well as in words. 

Signed,

National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)

Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR)

Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ)

Mindanews

Philippine Press Institute (PPI)

KMP: Gov’t anti-insurgency drive targets farmers, people’s organizations

The Rodrigo Duterte government targets and forces farmers to pose as surrenderers and be counted as trophies in its anti-insurgency campaign, an investigation by a farmers’ group revealed.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said a nationwide profiling campaign is ongoing against farmers, many of whom are later listed and presented as surrendered New People’s Army (NPA) members or supporters by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). 

The KMP said the attacks on the peasant sector was affirmed by its series of online fact-finding activities with campaign group Tanggol Magsasaka on farmers, leaders, and other residents in 11 provinces nationwide from July to August.

More than 70 victims gave their testimonies and affidavits on over a hundred cases of human rights abuses perpetrated by state forces, KMP said.

The groups’ first ever online fact-finding activity was aimed to “expose the Duterte regime’s dirty and brutal war targeting farmers, to silence their collective struggle for land, economic reforms, and social justice. “

The fact-finding mission was held just as President Duterte bragged in his last State of the Nation Address last July 26 that about 17,000 NPA members have already surrendered to government forces.

“More than 17,000 former communist rebels have surrendered to the government. They have returned to the fold of the law and are happily reintegrating to the community,” Duterte said.

The President added his administration’s projects such as farm-to-market roads, livelihood, education and sanitation were able to destroy 15 NPA fronts, which he did not identify.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) however laughed at the President’s claim, pointing out past military claims the NPA has no more than 4,000 fighters left.

“”Fifteen guerrilla fronts dismantled? Dream on, Duterte. Si Gen. Hermogenes Esperon ng NTF-ELCAC nagsabi, mahigit daw 4,000 noong June ang NPA mula 3,700 noong December,” CPP information officer Marco Valbuena said.

Civilians

The KMP said many of those claimed by NTF-ELCAC’s to be surrenderers were civilians, including farmers, farm workers, peasant leaders, rural women and youth, and fisher folk.

“[T]he majority of these so-called surrenderers are civilians — ordinary farmers who were either coerced, forced, or duped into ‘surrendering’ to the government,” the KMP said.

The group said that based on initial findings of its online investigation, red-tagging, threat, harassment, and intimidation are the most common forms of abuse by state forces.

Other instances of abuses include:

* Home and farm “intimidation visits” by police, military, and intelligence agents;

* “Forced presentation” of peasant leaders, farmers, and civilians to village authorities and Philippine Army camps to have their names “cleared”; and

* Forced attendance in village meetings organized by the military to be “lectured” on counterinsurgency. 

KMP said that individuals targeted for forced surrender were intimidated to sign document denouncing local organization and the CPP-NPA-NDFP alleged as “Communist Terrorist Groups.”  

The group’s accusations mirror the December 2019 Philippine Army admission it manipulated a photo to show a group of so-called NPA surrenderers in Masbate province.

The Philippine Army photo it released to the media that it also later admitted was manipulated.

Automatic NPA supporters

The KMP revealed government forces automatically accuse local peasant organizations and associations supporters of the NPA or have links and relations to the CPP, NPA and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). 

“Farmers and rural populations in localities are often red-tagged as members of the so-called Milisyang Bayan and Sangay ng Partido sa Lokalidad. Legitimate peasant organizations engaged in farm campaigns, campaigns for land reform, against land-grabbing, against high land rent, and other forms of feudal exploitation are always and automatically red-tagged and vilified by state forces,” KMP said.

The group added its affiliates as well as those of other peasant organizations have been red-tagged, including Danggayan, Dagami, Kaguimungan, UMA-Isabela, AMIHAN-Ambi, PIGLAS and CLAIM in Quezon, AMB in Bulacan, KMB, BCPAI, and LAMBAT in Bicol, and local organizations of farmers in Cavite, Camarines Sur, Albay, Iloilo, and Capiz. 

“In the course of the comprehensive and sustained forced surrender campaigns, state forces, and authorities use varied forms ranging from persuasion, deception, fraud, subterfuge, suppression, coercion, and outright use of force and violence,” the KMP said.

It added the government’s counter-insurgency campaign takes full advantage to enforce more restrictions in peasant communities, making peasant communities and villages virtual military garrisons. 

The group said its fact-finding mission will continue in the coming weeks to further probe the situation in other regions and provinces. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)