The Jose Percival Estocada Jr. Command vehemently condemns the numerous human rights violations perpetrated by the 12th IB and the terror it sowed during its combat operations in the mountainous barangays of Janiuay. The said operation started August 5, 2020 and lasted for more than a week.

Two peasants were illegally detained and interrogated and were forced to be their guides for the whole day. One of them was beaten up while his hands were restrained behind his back and was stripped naked by the military. Four houses were illegally ransacked including one that was empty and padlocked. The 12th IB soldiers also threatened to kill, interrogated, accused as NPA members and/or beat up five more peasants. They confiscated 12-gauge shotguns from the homes they ransacked that the farmers keep in case the need to defend their families and farm animals against criminal elements arises. They stomped through farms that destroyed the crops. The victims of the said military atrocities were residents of Brgy. Atimonan, Januiay, Iloilo.

The officers and men of the 12th IB did not waste any time pretending they care even a bit for the welfare of the people. This early, after a few months of deployment, they already showed their true faces – rabid dogs trained and fed by a mad man, ready to bite at anyone anytime unleashed. The soldiers of the 12th IB are thugs and abusive men without any regard for the people.

The supposed encounter reported by 12thIB that transpired in Brgy. Atimonan last August 8, 2020 was a fat lie. There was no firefight between the NPA and the AFP. The stories they tell to the public are just droolings of these rabid dogs that carry out cowardly acts of brutalities against innocent and unarmed civilians.

The reassurances issued by Duterte and his gang are empty words as they try in vain to calm down the people clamoring against the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. This law has no other objective but to legalie the human rights abuses perpetrated by his government against the Filipino people, its critics and rivals in politics, legal democratic organizations and revolutionary forces who rise up against the ills of his government. Duterte and his rabid dogs want to sow fear and terror and to make the people believe that they can commit even the vilest crimes against the people with impunity.

However, Duterte and his lapdogs will soon know that they will not get away with their crimes. The violations committed to the people in hopes to sow fear and terror will only ignite the people’s anger and courage to rise up against his regime. Time will come, Duterte will cower in fear, not the people.

Meanwhile the NPA, through the leadership of the CPP, is determined in educating the people about the real situation and is actively helping the masses solve practical challenges they face especially in these times of crisis brought about by the poor and inutile measures of the Duterte administration in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. The NPA leads campaigns to increase agricultural production and develop the spirit of cooperation within the ranks of the farmers in the countryside. The NPAA also extends free medical services especially to poor patients. Above all, the NPA, along with the enraged masses, is ready to give justice to atrocities and abuses, and strike at enemy forces in places and times they expect the least