Agents of the 9th ID’s 96th Military Intelligence Company (MICO) abducted and forced a local peasant into a van in Barangay Cabangcalan, Placer, Masbate on March 29 at 6 a.m. The victim was identified as Junior Tuling, 56 years old.

Tuling had previously been a victim of the military’s forced surrender. In 2021, the soldiers forced Tuling’s surrender at the height of their Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP). In Masbate, soldiers harass many “surrenderers” like Tuling who refuse to serve as military intelligence assets or join the CAFGU.

Tuling’s family and relatives sought help to locate him. They held to account the military for its brutality and demanded justice for the victim. They urged local barangay officials to act and take steps to find the victim and ensure his safety.

In a separate incident on March 27, 96th MICO personnel mauled Totong Cuyos, a farmer and resident of Barangay Cabrera, Dimasalang. Additionally, reports from Masbate’s second district indicate rampant cases of the military seizing civilian property and shifting the blame on the NPA.

Arrests. In Quezon, members of the 85th IB and police arrested civilians Darwin Palo and Jay-Ar Molantes at the Lucena Grand Terminal in Lucena City on March 27. The victims were on their way to Bulacan to work.

The police tagged Palo, a farmer from Lopez, Quezon, as one of the “most wanted” criminals in the Calabarzon region. They said Palo faces six cases including multiple attempted murder cases and violations of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. They also accuse him of being a collector for the New People’s Army for the alleged “permit-to-campaign” during the 2025 elections. Meanwhile, the police did not file a report about Molantes’ arrest.

Fake surrender. Police in Cebu once again claimed that a 25-year-old male farmer from Barangay Bonbon, Aloguinsan, Cebu “surrendered” to them on March 28. Police claims the peasant is an NPA supporter. Residents of Barangay Bonbon, where the San Roque Farmers Association is engaged in a land dispute, said this farmer had previously been falsely presented as having “surrendered.”

Meanwhile, soldiers under the 31st Civil Military Operations (CMO) visited the home of San Roque Farmers Association (SRFA) chairperson Pio Del Rosario in Barangay Bonbon on March 11. Seven soldiers harassed and intimidated Del Rosario to stop him from exposing and condemning the militarization and oppression in their community.