The New People’s Army (NPA)-Negros Island (Apolinario Gatmaitan Command) refuted the fake stories being circulated by the Marcos regime’s 79th IB and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) regarding the 19 people it massacred in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental on April 19. NPA regional command spokesperson Ka Maoche Legislador said not all of those killed by the military were armed Red fighters or combatants.

Only a small squad among those killed were Red fighters of the NPA-Northern Negros (Roselyn Jean Pelle Command), the regional command added. Commander Roger Fabillar (Ka Jhong) reportedly led the unit.

“The rest were civilians documenting the activities of peasants, in solidarity with farmers who face relentless harassment from land grabbing and systemic neglect,” Legislador said. He identified some of these civilians as local and foreign journalists and human rights defenders. He said they carried nothing but notebooks, cameras, and the grievances of the poor that the state brands as “dangerous.”

According to reports, among the civilians killed were Altermidya journalist RJ Nichole Ledesma, University of the Philippines-Diliman student leader Alyssa Alano, peasant rights advocate and researcher Errol Wendel Chen, and Maureen Keil Santuyo. The 79th IB also killed young farmer Roel Sabillo, who was then simply working in his uncle’s business.

“Amid the narratives circulating in communities and on social media, it is easy to see what the 79th IB’s story really is: a desperate fabrication or fiction,” Legislador said. He added that the military quickly labeled all those killed as armed and, to cover up its crime, even claiming to have seized more than 20 weapons in the clashes.

He said the 79th IB’s supposed “battle victories” are in fact ruthless massacres of civilians and individuals whose only weapons were their convictions and their desire to serve the poor.

Call for investigation

The Toboso massacre prompted the National Democratic Front (NDF)-Negros Island to call on the public, media, church, human rights defenders, and mass organizations to conduct an independent investigation into the incident. Ka Bayani Obrero said the truth about the 79th IB’s crimes must come out to hold those responsible accountable.

The likelihood of human rights and international humanitarian law violations further emerges in the military’s imposition of a media blackout a day after the incident, justified by so-called clearing and hot pursuit operations. More than 600 residents of Barangay Salamanca and nearby villages were also forcibly evacuated.

The military’s prolonged concealment and vacillating statements on the number of fatalities, the supposed recovered firearms ranging from 7 to 9 and later to more than 20, and its denial that foreigners were among the dead are also suspicious.

“The forced evacuation and reports of human rights violations must be thoroughly investigated in an impartial manner, to heed the call for justice of the victims and their families,” Obrero said.

Tribute and honor

Tributes and honors poured in for the heroism of Red fighters and civilian organizers following their deaths. Brief gatherings and protests were held in Metro Manila and Negros Island to honor them alongside calls for justice.

“The ruling classes celebrate and feast, while the exploited masses are shrouded in sorrow over the deaths of their Red fighters who gave their all in fighting the fascist monsters in Toboso,” Party chief information officer Ka Marco Valbuena said.

He said the fascist AFP continues to vilify the fallen heroes of the people as “terrorists” and “criminals” in its desperation to justify its merciless war of suppression and to bury the gross abuses against the people. “The people of Toboso reject the AFP’s lies,” Valbuena said.

He said the Negrosanon masses know and will be the first to testify how the NPA’s Red fighters served them with dedication in their daily struggles and in their fight to defend their welfare and rights. “They regard the NPA fighters as their own children, who selflessly served them as doctors, dentists, farmhand, and teachers to their children,” he said.

The Party is confident that the sacrifices and heroism of the fallen Red fighters of Negros will inspire more people to struggle to advance the revolutionary cause. “Fighters of the people fall, but the people’s war will continue,” Valbuena said.

From the land soaked with the blood of the people’s heroes will rise more leaders of mass organizations, Red fighters of the NPA, and Party cadres, he said.

Meanwhile in Quezon City, the UP Diliman University Student Council led a tribute program on April 23 for student leader Alano, other youth martyrs with her, and all those martyred in Toboso. The gathering was filled with tears, stories and songs, and firm calls for justice, and ended with a candle-lighting.

“When we say ‘serve the people,’ we follow Alyssa. When we say ‘serve the people,’ we can leave behind our daily lives in the city and live among the peasants,” said Rommer Publico, one of Alano’s fellow councilors in the UP Diliman USC.