The family of 60-year-old farmer Lolly Alperto has yet to locate him since 47th IB soldiers abducted him on January 31. Alperto was picking coffee near his home in Sityo Agpapataw, Barangay Binobohan, Guihulngan, Negros Oriental when the military seized him.

Alperto’s family said they know soldiers are holding him. The soldiers reportedly fired at him, wounding him before the abduction.

Alperto’s continuing disappearance now causes fear and anxiety among his family and residents of Barangay Binobohan. His disappearance also threatens the organizing right of the Kapunungan sa Gagmay’ng Mag-uuma sa Oriental Negros (KAUGMAON, or Alliance of Small Peasants in Oriental Negros)-Guihulngan Chapter.

The New People’s Army (NPA)-Central Negros (Leonardo Panaligan Command) statement said the 47th IB’s shooting and abduction of Alperto was committed alongside its deliberate killing of the Gemodo Red fighter couple in the same sitio. Pedro Gemodo, 61, and Juliana Arculo Gemodo, 63, were wounded, captured, and then shot by soldiers.

NPA-Central Negros spokesperson Ka JB Regalado said the 47th IB’s separate attacks both violated international humanitarian law and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), which was signed by the National Democratic Front and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines.

The shooting and abduction of Alperto specifically violated Part IV (Respect for International Humanitarian Law), Article 4, number 4 of the CARHRIHL: “The civilian population and civilians shall be treated as such and distinguished from combatants, and, together with their property, shall not be the object of attack.”

Alperto’s family demanded that he be surfaced alive and released from the 47th IB’s custody.