The Communist Party of the Philippines gives its highest tribute to the martyrs of the Filipino people who were killed on April 19 in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental.

“The ruling classes celebrate and feast, while the oppressed masses are shrouded in sorrow over the deaths of their Red fighters who gave their all in fighting the fascist monsters,” CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena said. “The fascist AFP vilify the people’s fallen heroes without end as ‘terrorists’ and ‘criminals’ in their desperation to justify their merciless war of suppression and to bury the gross abuses they inflict on the people.”

Amid the disinformation and lies of the AFP, the people of Toboso and the whole of Negros know the Red fighters’ resolve in the struggle for the rights of oppressed peasants. They regard their Red fighters as their own children, who selflessly served them as doctors, dentists, farmhand, and teachers.

“Let us drape their coffins with the Red flag of the revolution, raise our fists, and amplify our voices as we march to bring them to their graves,” Valbuena called. Their sacrifices are certain to inspire even greater numbers to wage resistance and advance the revolution for national liberation and democracy.

Meanwhile, the intense militarization in the adjacent barangays of Salamanca and San Jose must be exposed and condemned. This has forced more than 600 individuals to evacuate and temporarily take shelter in an evacuation center. Their rights must be upheld.