The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today condemned the 94th Infantry Battalion for “hunting down even children” in its brutal military operations in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental since April 22.

Reports from the National Democratic Front (NDF) in Negros Island revealed that soldiers of the 94th IB ransacked a residence in Malikliko, Barangay Buenavista looking for two-month old baby “Inday” and a two-year old “Toto” whose parents the 94th IB claims are “NPA fighters.” According to the report, the grandmother present in the house was given an ultimatum to surrender the babies or else suffer dreadful consequences.

“The officers and men of the 94th IB are nothing but cowards!,” said CPP Chief Information Officer Marco Valbuena. “Babies and young kids are not being spared from the brutal counterinsurgency drive of Duterte and his fascist butchers,” he added.

Valbuena said the 94th IB’s operations in Negros Occidental have brazenly been targeting civilians in gross violation of international humanitarian law.

“Unable to strike big against the New People’s Army, and rushing to ‘fulfill’ its target of ‘crushing’ the revolutionary movement, particularly in the island, the 94th IB is going after unarmed civilians in communities,” Valbuena said.

Earlier, according to the NDF-Negros Island, about a hundred soldiers laid siege on two sitios in Barangay Carabalan, namely Malikoliko and Cunalom, and another one, Tigbao in Barangay Buenavista.

Apart from the grandmother’s house, three other houses were forcibly entered and consequently ransacked. Seven male residents were threatened to be killed if they will not evacuate from their houses along with their families.

Soldiers then prohibited them from tending their rice fields, the main source of their livelihood, on the ground that these are “NPA’s communal farms.” The owner of the sole rice mill in the area was ordered to stop operation and evacuate. He received the same death threat. Soldiers accused of him supplying rice stocks to the NPA.

Due to the incident, about 24 individuals, among them 9 women and 10 children, were forcibly displaced from their homes and sources of livelihood.

“We are urgently calling on human rights organizations in the Philippines and international observers, as well as children’s rights advocates, to lend a hand to the victims and look into the aforementioned incident,” Valbuena remarked. (CPP Information Bureau)