The New People’s Army (NPA) dubbed the 3rd Infantry Division’s target to recommend the declaration of Negros Island as “insurgency-free” by 1st quarter next year as “another failed deadline” and a “prolonged militarization outbreak.”

Ka Maoche Legislador, Apolinario Gatmaitan Command-NPA Negros (AGC-NPA) spokesperson, said that MGen. Marion Sison is “just sugarcoating their inability to accomplish their pipe dream deadline of defeating the NPA in Negros.”

Legislador also pointed out that the Philipine Army’s various terminologies of “neutralizing leaders,” “weakened” and “dismantled” guerrilla fronts are mere indications that the AFP is actively “manipulating the truth to hide their human rights violations.”

He stressed that focused military operations “target civilians and farmer communities, utilizing innocent people in their corrupt surrender campaigns or resorting to murder if their victims refuse to cooperate.”

He also said that “neutralizing leaders” is the 3rd ID’s version of cold-blooded murders of hors de combat revolutionaries like NDFP peace consultants Rogelio Posadas and Ericson Acosta, and AGC-NPA spokesperson Ka Juanito Magbanua (Romeo Nanta).

Legislador slammed as well the recent “tinikal” (boast) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) regarding Php3 billion worth of projects for 272 barangays in Western and Central Visayas. “The Barangay Development Program is akin to the confidential funds of Sara Duterte that is used for corruption of military officials and local politicians, bloating their pockets aside from the kickbacks they receive from the influx of projects they prioritize over the well-being of the people.”

“Fascist focused military operations and the NTF-Elcac’s BDP and local peace engagements are a far cry from addressing the roots of the armed conflict. If anything, these only add fuel to the fire, worsening the socioeconomic woes of the people under a semi-colonial and semi-feudal system,” he said.

The rebel spokesperson called on Negrosanons “to continue their collective resistance against relentless militarization and human rights violations in the cities and the countryside and resolutely face the genuine terrorists in the AFP and PNP who consciously create conditions that veer away from the resumption of peace negotiations.”

“Sison and the AFP are only fooling themselves in thinking that these kinds of declarations are effective. If the reactionary government’s troops are only capable of warmongering and crimes, then surely their deadlines will continue to flop as they, then and again, unwittingly prove that the armed revolution is the only path for the people to achieve a just and lasting peace,” Legislador ended.###