It is not the NPA but the AFP that is wantonly abusing civilians and sabotaging the peace negotiations

Fr. Santiago "Sanny" Salas
Spokesperson in Eastern Visayas
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
September 02, 2004

The recent allegation by the AFP that the CPP-NPA is responsible for killing 91 civilians this year is fabricated. It is aimed at further wrecking the already postponed peace negotiations by slyly suggesting that there is credence to the renewal of the US "terrorist" listing of the CPP-NPA and Prof. Jose Ma. Sison. But as the genuine army of the people, the NPA is highly disciplined and principled, faithful to the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, and observes the Geneva Conventions and other international humanitarian instrumentalities. There is the upright, humane and courageous record of the revolutionary movement in 36 years of armed struggle for national and social liberation. Between this and the US-supported reactionary government's militarization in the countryside - the massacres, tortures, arsons, bombardment of civilian communities, destruction of crops and people's livelihoods - who is the real terrorist?

In Eastern Visayas, the recent atrocities of the 8th Infantry Division in its renewed offensives belie the AFP's feigned concern for civilian lives. In a Municipal Peace and Order Council meeting last Aug. 23 in Basey, Western Samar, a petition signed by more than 200 people demanded the cessation of military operations by the 46th IB. The victims of the 46th IB openly testified that the soldiers pointed their guns at children, illegally searched houses, and trampled the crops of the peasants.

The vicious cycle of killings of defenseless civilians continues. Last Aug. 8, soldiers and CAFGUs of the 63rd IB strafed the house of the Conge family in Catubig, Northern Samar, killing Mely Conge, 29 years old and four months pregnant, and seriously wounding her husband and three children. Col. Manuel Usi, 63rd IB commander, tried to hush up the incident and blame the NPA but was quickly exposed.

In Eastern Samar, four peasants were killed by soldiers on military operations in June and July. Last July 4 in Brgy. Can-ilay, Can-avid, soldiers from the 14th IB led by 2Lt. Arbern Rommel Abiva shot and killed mentally-handicapped Bernardo Amado merely because he couldn't answer their questions. That same day, an unidentified peasant in Dolores was killed by elements of the 14th and 63rd IB who split his head open with a bolo. On July 2, Rogelio Nurcio was found dead inside the chapel of Brgy. Tangbo, Maslog; for only having a brother in the NPA, he had been shot, slashed with a bolo and his eyes gouged out by elements of the 14th IB. On June 12, Freddie Rebato was stabbed and slashed to death by Scout Rangers and 14th IB soldiers in Brgy. Tugas, Maslog.

These and many more human rights violations have not cowed the people but heightened their outrage and cry for justice. Yet the reactionary government not only ignores the people's outcry but takes no serious interest in the peace negotiations. It is in fact keen on intensifying its counterrevolutionary war, a war without rules in the framework of the US "war on terror", with the possibility of increasing US military intervention. While the people bear the cross of the socio-economic crisis, they are lashed as well with militarization, harsher political repression, and foreign intervention.

Those in Eastern Visayas who have a conscience and compassion for the people should support the growing clamor to stop militarization, indemnify the victims, and punish the human rights violators. Those who desire a just and lasting peace should call on the Arroyo government to fulfill its obligations under the two Oslo joint statements last February and April: take steps to do away with the "terrorist" listing of the CPP-NPA and Prof. Sison; release all political prisoners; and expedite the indemnification of the martial law victims. But should the Arroyo government and the AFP do away altogether with peace talks and intensify the counterrevolutionary war, they will only send the people of Eastern Visayas and the entire country in droves into the arms of revolution and hasten the continuing struggle for national freedom, democracy and peace.#

For confirmation, contact:
Roy Santos, NDF-EV Media Liaison Officer
Cellphone No. 0918-3112138