The Apolinario Gatmaitan Command (AGC) today condemned the 94th Infantry Battalion for throwing out the surviving kin of the two murdered farmers in Sitio Malikoliko, Barangay Carabalan, Himamaylan, Negros Occidental.

Early in the morning of May 2, a platoon of soldiers ransacked the homes of elderly Julieta Sabanal and her sons Ronald, Rene and Ariel. They were subjected to grueling verbal and physical abuse.

Afterwards, they were ordered to immediately vacate from their residences and leave the area. “Evacuate or be killed,” the soldiers declared.

Following the botched offensive against the NPA on March 26, the 94th IB abducted and subsequently tortured and executed Jason and Arnulfo Sabanal. The two farmers were portrayed in the media by 94th as NPAs killed in an encounter.

The wife of Jason was the first to evacuate for fear of reprisal after she issued a statement to the media questioning the military propaganda line and asserted that her husband is a civilian.

This latest incident of 94th IB’s vicious attack on civilians displaced 18 individuals from the Sabanal households, among them 5 women and 11 children

It can be recalled that few weeks earlier the same military unit laid siege Malikoliko and attempted to kidnap two children, ransacked civilian houses and displaced civilians from their homes and sources of livelihood.

Over-all, about 14 households comprising of 42 individuals of which 14 are women and 21 are children were affected by the fascist onslaught in Malikoliko alone.

The heightened attacks on civilians underscore the growing desperation of the AFP for failing to crush the NPA and severe its ties with the masses.

Clearly, military officials have not learned lesson of history that brutality and state terrorism will only lead to stronger revolution. Fascism will drive more people to tread the path of revolutionary armed struggle.

Brutal attacks against the civilians accentuate the fundamental anti-people character of the AFP in juxtapose to the revolutionary character of the NPA as the genuine army of the people. Popular support for the NPA and the people’s war will only widen and deepen.

The AGC is urgently calling on the human rights organizations to investigate the mounting cases of attacks on civilians by AFP and PNP units and assist the victims and their families.

On the other hand, the AGC is urging the people in military occupied communities to resist and fight back in every ways and means possible according to concrete conditions. The NPA will be defend the rights of people and punish the oppressors.

All commands of the NPA in Negros are ordered to launch tactical offensives against the most brutal and bloodthirsty military, paramilitary and police units to give justice to the victims of state fascism and defend the people from fascist onslaught. ###