Soldiers of the 94th IB brutally murdered civilian couple, Marvin Incancion, 37, and Jolina Martinez, 27, inside their hut in Sityo Pisok, Barangay Buenavista, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental on August 22 at 8:40 in the morning. Based on initial information, the soldiers arrested the victims then summarily executed them.

The couple died of gunshot wounds to the head. Reports said Martinez was almost unrecognizable due to the barrage of bullets to his face.

As in the usual modus operandi of units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the 94th IB falsely claimed that the couple was killed in an armed encounter against “remaining fighters” of the New People’s Army (NPA)-South Central Negros (Mt. Cansermon Command).

The NPA-South Central Negros spokesperson denied that an encounter happened and said that there was no unit of the people’s army in the area at that time. There is no truth in the military’s claim that an M16, an M14, ammunition and other war equipment were confiscated from the couple.

“The victims were unarmed and murdered by the bloodthirsty butchers of the AFP to fill their quota and maintain the false declaration of a dismantled guerilla front,” Ka Dionesio Magbuelas, spokesperson of the NPA-South Central Negros, said.

Magbuelas clarified that the couple were ex-NPAs who left the revolutionary armed struggle before 2023. Because of this, they are considered civilians in the framework of international humanitarian law.

“Since then they were making a living in the area as farmers, but were consistently red-tagged and harassed by the 94th IB to coerce them into availing the corrupt surrender program,” according to Ka Dionesio. Before they were killed, soldiers raided their house twice last year.

Following the brutal killing of the couple, the commander of the AFP Visayas Command rabidly declared their killing of civilians a “big blow” against the revolutionary movement in Western Visayas. The 94th IB previously declared that only five fighters of the NPA-South Central Negros remain.

Under the Marcos regime, 107 cases of human rights violations by state forces were recorded in Himamaylan City. These violations affected at least 150,000 residents of which seven were murdered, including the Fausto family massacred by the 94th IB in Barangay Buenavista in May 2023.

“In the desperate attempt of the AFP to terrify the masses through wanton violence targeting the helpless and defenseless, they themselves make it obvious that it is impossible to defeat the armed revolution when day by day they give the oppressed a reason to take up arms and resist the reactionary state’s fascism,” Ka Dionesio emphasized.