Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP) condemned the 12th Civil Military Operations (CMO) Battalion for its renewed terrorism in a Marikina City community last week. The military’s intimidation targeted community mass leaders.

Accompanied by a surrenderer who identified himself as Joel, soldiers went to the house of a homeowners’ association officer in Agora Compound on June 17 and 18. They ordered him to list the names of the compound’s residents.

The 12th CMO Battalion earlier held a medical mission and distributed meat to win over residents and discourage questioning of their presence in the community.

Homes of about 54 families in Agora-fronting Barangay Sto. Niño now face demolition, while some 100 families in Agora-tent and Agora-garden remain uncertain about their housing. Instead of clarity on the promised in-city relocation, local residents are now confronted with a military operation.

The 12th CMO Battalion is notorious for red-tagging, surveillance, and harassment of residents in North Caloocan and Tondo, Manila. Besides Barangay Sto. Niño in Marikina, the battalion has already circulated through Barangay Fortune and Barangay Nangka.

GWP said the military’s duplicity must be exposed; the same forces are responsible for bombings and killings of many innocent civilians in various regions, including the Negros 19. The escalating militarization of Agora and other parts of Marikina should be questioned and resisted.

“Fascist soldiers will not resolve our demand for housing security. We have had a demolition notice since 2022 but we stayed in Agora because of our united action. We will rely on mass unity again to force the LGU to deliver in-city relocation for our families,” the group explained.

GWP called on Marikina residents to immediately report military presence in communities—often in civilian clothes—and to unite in opposing the city’s militarization.