Soldiers of the 3rd IB killed a peasant resident of Barangay Cagtoto-og, San Jorge, Samar, in a bout of indiscriminate firing on February 2. The victim was identified as Jaime Pabillar, 44 years old.

Pabillar was inside his house with his wife, child, and grandchild when the soldiers rained bullets, hitting and killing Pabillar. This also greatly terrified his family and even the community residents.

The New People’s Army (NPA)-Western Samar (Arnulfo Ortiz Command) refuted the 3rd IB’s claim that Pabillar was a Red fighter. Spokesperson Ka Tirado Dagohoy clarified that Pabillar was a civilian inside the house temporarily occupied by an NPA-Western Samar unit.

Dagohoy stated that an NPA unit was in the barrio at that time to investigate the residents’ situation battered by rains and intense militarization. They temporarily took shelter in a peasant’s house.

The Red fighters inside reportedly checked and lighted a flashlight in the direction of the noise they heard outside the house. The 3rd IB then immediately and arbitrarily fired in the direction of the house.

“The comrades did not return fire and withdrew without sustaining injuries,” Dagohoy said. This was the NPA-Western Samar unit’s effort to prevent endangering the masses who hosted them in the house. But the soldiers’ unprovoked shooting killed Pabillar.

The NPA-Western Samar extended deepest condolences for Pabillar’s death. “It is extremely painful to lose a beloved father and partner in supporting the family, especially amid the 3rd IB’s brutality and the US-Marcos regime’s exploitation of peasant masses,” Dagohoy said.

He added that the few kilos of rice and canned goods that the 3rd IB and 1st CMO Company’s distributed in the barrio cannot compensate for the family’s loss. This is also insufficient to recover the livelihood they lost from of the military’s imposed hamlet or “lockdown” on the community.

The military’s killing of Pabillar is just one of the growing cases of the military’s indiscriminate shootings on civilian communities in Samar. The 46th IB fired at two young coconut farmers in San Jose de Buan municipality in January and riddled houses with bullets in a barangay in December 2025.

Dagohoy said this shooting is an implementation of the “shoot-to-kill” policy in the countryside that targets not only the NPA but also peasants. “In their panic whenever they enter areas covered by the people’s army operations, they wantonly shoot anyone they see, even without confirming what their target is, and even if there are other civilians nearby,” he said.

Amid military brutality, the NPA-Western Samar vowed to exact a high price from the murderers terrorizing peasant masses. “We will boldly strive on the path of revolutionary struggle to achieve genuine justice and long-term peace for the Filipino people,” Dagohoy said.

The National Democratic Front (NDF)-Eastern Visayas also condemned Pabillar’s killing and other cases of human rights violations against civilians. The group stated that the 801st IBde’s Task Force Gabay is responsible for these crimes leading the all-out war against the people.

Related to this, the NDF-EV called on the region’s people to unite, expose, and fight the US-Marcos regime’s fascist terrorism. The group added that human rights groups and those who love genuine peace should unite with them to demand justice for the victims of the state’s fascism.