Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) members on Mindoro island complained about delayed salaries for several months that they owed for their service. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) personnel have not paid the CAFGU members for four months, causing hardship for them and their families.

The complaint stipulated they have not received the full amount of their salaries for the months of February and March, and they were not paid a single peso for April and May. They also reported not having received any differential pay. CAFGU members in Mindoro receive a monthly salary of ₱12,500.

“Their families are already hungry, (and are living in) misery,” Fred reported on the CAFGU members’ situation. Other CAFGU members expressed the same complaint, airing their grievances in comments on Facebook.

Their AFP soldier “handlers” claimed that the bank could not fully release the funds for their salaries. “But the budget has already been approved,” Fred wondered. He added that their situation is miserable, especially since some of them are indigenous people.

Fred hesitated to share the CAFGU members’ situation in Mindoro because the soldiers might retaliate against them. He lamented, “they are corrupt… their rotten system prevails in the payment of CAFGU salaries.”

In 2022, indigenous Mangyan people were reportedly forced to join the CAFGU. New People’s Army (NPA)-Mindoro (Lucio de Guzman Command) spokesperson Ka Madaay Gasic condemned this.

“The Mindoro people and the entire nation must firmly oppose and condemn the forced CAFGU recruitment of the indigenous Mangyan, which violates human rights and the right to self-determination,” Ka Madaay said in March 2022.

Aside from these issues, CAFGU members also face other forms of abuse and exploitation from AFP soldiers. They are often bullied and are used as “punching bags.” They are humiliated and beaten for their mistakes or for replies unsatisfactory to their commander. Soldiers treat them like slaves.

Ka Madaay continues to urge the Mindoro people and the indigenous Mangyan to abandon the CAFGU and fight for their rights. He said, “the current crisis among the indigenous Mangyan leaves no other path but the road of the national-democratic revolution with a socialist perspective.”

The CAFGU is the AFP’s paramilitary force focused on the counterinsurgency campaign in rural areas. It was established on July 25, 1987, through Executive Order No. 264 of the Corazon Aquino regime as part of the “clear, consolidate, hold and develop” strategy to combat insurgency.

The CAFGU is composed of reservists and local residents who are trained and organized to support regular AFP soldiers in suppressing the people in areas suspected of strongly supporting the NPA. The AFP commonly uses them as cannon fodder in its operations against the NPA.