A New People’s Army (NPA)-Aurora (Domingo Erlano Command) unit’s active defense wounded one 91st IB soldier on the afternoon of August 21 in Sitio Aguses, Barangay Matawe, Dingalan, Aurora. The people’s army safely withdrew after the counterattack.

The 91st IB has been conducting focused and sustained military operations for three months in Dingalan and nearby towns. The battalion squandered massive resources and deployed hundreds of troopers in a desperate attempt to hunt down the unit of the people’s army.

“The 91st IB failed to inflict damage and crush the NPA-Aurora,” the provincial command declared. The unit added that this again disproved the Marcos regime’s and its military officials’ statement that “no guerrilla groups remain” in the country.

With the 91st IB’s relentless combat operations, the province recorded widespread cases of human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law.

The Dingalan people reported cases of the military stealing belongings and food supplies from residents, encampment in houses and schools, sending fisherfolk home naked, and more.

In April alone, American troops and Filipino soldiers used Aurora as a playground for activities under the Balikatan 2025 war games. Various war games related restrictions and prohibitions prevented many farmers, fisherfolk, and ordinary people to properly earn their livelihood that period.

Cases of prostituting Dingaleño women and poisoning of streams caused by the war games, which harmed two young children were also recorded.

The people of Aurora believe that militarization and combat operations form part of the puppet Marcos regime’s long-term plan to establish the Pacific Coast City in Dingalan. The US imperialists intend to use this for prepositioning war materiel and countering imperialist China, to the grave detriment of the Filipino people.

In this situation, the NPA-Aurora remains determined to frustrate the 91st IB’s intensified combat operations in the province. “Together with the Dingaleño people, the NPA-Aurora will persist in advancing the people’s war to fight for the interests of the masses in land, livelihood, shelter, and human rights, and until the complete overthrow of the fascist ruling class that oppresses the people,” the unit stated.