The 79th IB is wasting people’s money and promoting bounty hunting as an AFP helicopter dropped hundreds of flyers containing an image of a supposed NPA cadre with reward money at the mountain barangays of Calatrava on Saturday, September 10.

This was done during their weeks-long, battalion-sized pursuit operations after operatives of RJPC-NPA successfully served standing orders, including Lalong Barangay Captain Benjamin Javoc, last month.

AFP’s reaction after NPA’s police action against drug protector Javoc brings questions to the mind of the masses and revolutionary forces of Northern Negros. Is AFP protecting drug syndicates? Is Javoc’s drug boss a member of 79th IB? One can only ponder.
Lt. Col. J-Jay Javinez, commanding officer of 79th IB, repeatedly announced that the RJPC-NPA is long dismantled and consistently mentioned remnants of such NPA unit to be around 10 elements.
Following AFP’s illogical line of thought, they really need to spend hundreds of thousands of pesos to succeed in pursuing 10 elements and triumphantly annihilate ‘NPA remnants.’

Imagine the needed expenditure for a 300-man conducting military operation for a week or two: food, transportation, communication, etc. Moreover, imagine spending another tens of thousands of pesos for dropping flyers to pursue one supposed NPA cadre: helicopter fuel, printing, packaging, etc.
The practical activity (or lack thereof) of 79th IB was carried out when the people of Northern Negros is significantly suffering amidst the sugar industry crisis, as the district mainly relies on the monocrop sugar economy.

The cries of the people, “Bugas, dili armas!” and “Makibaka, huwag matakot!” 37 years ago is still reverberating and valid. As an instrument of the very same institution that killed about 20 people in Escalante City in 1985, one can only expect the same brutality from the fascist AFP.
As we commemorate the 37th Anniversary of Escalante Massacre come September 20, RJPC-NPA challenges the people of Northern Negros to overcome fear. Like the martyrs and the Filipino people who valiantly deposed Marcos Sr., our collective strength can topple his son too. RJPC-NPA is alongside the masses in their struggles.