The 4th Infantry Battalion (IB) soldiers accosted and deliberately killed civilian Juan Sumiling in Sitio Salidang, Barangay Naibuan, San Jose, Occidental Mindoro on August 1. Soldiers falsely presented the victim a New People’s Army (NPA)-Mindoro (Lucio de Guzman Command) member who died in an encounter.

National Democratic Front (NDF)-Mindoro spokesperson Ka Ma. Patricia Andal’s statement clarified that Sumiling was not a Red fighter. She added that no battle occurred between the 4th IB and any NPA-Mindoro unit since no army unit was present in the said barangay at that time.

“In fact, fascist soldiers arrested Sumiling alive, tortured him, and then mercilessly killed him. This contradicts the confusing repeated declarations of the 203rd Brigade, 68th IB, and the San Jose local government that there that NPA is no more in the area,” Andal said.

According to the group, 50-year-old Sumiling lived for over a decade among the indigenous Buhid and Hanunuo Mangyan communities. He came from a poor Maranao peasant family in Mindanao and was imprisoned in Sablayan Penal Colony in Occidental Mindoro for defending their land rights.

Sumiling escaped prison in 2012 and since then moved between indigenous Mangyan communities. The NDF-Mindoro said that from that year, he cooperated with the indigenous communities in establishing water systems, building irrigation, and shared agricultural knowledge and techniques.

He united the indigenous people, built their mass organizations, and led efforts to encourage discipline among the people knowing that collective action was a stronger force, the group said. “He showed genuine concern for the indigenous people,” Andal stated.

According to NDF-Mindoro records, Sumiling is the third victim of extra-judicial killings by state forces in the past year. The previous two were Mangyan student Jay-el Maligday killed by the 4th IB on April 7, 2024, in Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro, and Hanunuo Mangyan Hulyo Aytag on March 14 in Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro.

“These successive killings of legitimate civilians further prove a prevailing undeclared martial law in Mindoro countryside,” Andal said. She added that the 203rd IBde implements this to desperately create a public illusion that the revolutionary movement in Mindoro is incapable, weak, and unsupported by Mindoreño people.

To investigate Sumiling’s killing, Karapatan-Southern Tagalog immediately launched a fact-finding mission in San Jose. A team of human rights defenders and paralegals went to investigate and support the burial. As before, soldiers restricts and surveills Karapatan-ST.

Besides harassment, the group complained about the military’s strict guarding of the victim’s remains at the funeral home. Karapatan-ST said the 4th IB grossly violated international humanitarian law in addition to criminal liability for killing a civilian. “This is not only a desecration of the victim’s remains and International Humanitarian Law but also a tactic of intimidation and control,” the group said.

“Instead of expediting a humane burial, the local government, AFP, and PNP subjected the Karapatan-ST humanitarian team to bureaucratic obstruction. The team faces severe delaying tactics now from the LGU, which even deflects responsibility instead of fulfilling its duty to take immediate action on this crisis,” the group stated. The group challenged Mayor Rey Ladaga to stand up to the 4th IB and assert civilian authority over military rule.

Meanwhile, the group of traitors to the people, Kapatiran ng mga Dating Rebelde (Kadre)-Mimaropa, now parrots the 4th IB and AFP lies. These traitors justify the 4th IB’s killing of a civilian, which happened during the first week of August, a month marking International Humanitarian Law.