Soldiers of the 79th IB threatened and beat an elderly farmer and two brothers in Barangay Paitan, Escalante City, Negros Occidental on March 9 and 11. The soldiers targeted them after they refused to answer the military’s questions about the whereabouts of the New People’s Army (NPA).

Soldiers threatened and aimed their guns at elderly farmer Jose Carbaquel in Sityo Moncada on March 9. This was after he refused to answer their question on whether he saw any Red fighters while working in the hacienda.

Soldiers struck the heads of brothers Oliver and Joven Tingga and issued threats in Sityo Tabunok on March 11. The soldiers assaulted them after they failed to identify who was involved in the killing of one alias Buboy Carsona.

The NPA–Northern Negros (Roselyn Jean Pelle Command) meted the death penalty on Carsona in Sityo Cagayon 1 on March 4. According to the people’s army, it carried out the decision of the People’s Court of the Democratic People’s Government in the area, which found Carsona guilty of murdering Martino Fuentes Jr, a civilian, in 2024.

Fuentes was reported to have been stabbed in the stomach which caused his death. Police detained Carsona that year but immediately released him, claiming Fuentes was an NPA member and that the killing was therefore justified.

Ka Cecil Estrella said peasants in Escalante City have long demanded justice for Fuentes. “The action demonstrated the fair and swift justice the masses have long demanded, in stark contrast to the corrupt and so-called ‘blind’ justice system of the reactionary state,” Estrella said.