On November 22, 2018, tyrant Rodrigo Duterte issued Memorandum Order 32 (MO32) that declared a ‘state of lawless violence’ in Negros Island, together with Samar Island and Bicol region. By virtue of MO32, more troops of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) were deployed to these provinces imposing a virtual martial law.

In Negros, half a decade later, the AFP and Philippine National Police (PNP) have earned the outrage of Negrosanons for the bloody trail left wherever they conducted their anti-insurgency campaign. From November 2018 to today, nearly a thousand cases of human rights violations have been perpetrated by reactionary state forces.

Negros Island is believed to be a laboratory for state violence where countless massacres and summary killings have occurred mainly targetting farmers and farm workers. The whole world was filled with indignation for Oplan Sauron 1 in December 2018 and Oplan Sauron 2 in March 2019, the successive salvaging of 21 civilians on July-August 2019 including a lawyer, teachers, municipal and barangay officials and a one-year old infant, the killing of human rights defender Zara Alvarez and public doctor Mary Rose Sancelan on August and December 2020, the Jacolbe massacre in July 2022, and the Fausto massacre in June 2023. These are only some of the most gruesome from a long list of state-sponsored killings on the island.

Furthermore, dozens of peasant killings were whitewashed by the military as NPA casualties in fake armed encounters. Peasants were victims of forced and fake surrender; exploited by military and police officials for access to the E-CLIP fund and outrageous bounties. Activists and human rights defenders were red-tagged and charged with trumped-up cases. The most prominent incident was the raid of offices of progressive organizations in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental on October 2019 wherein 57 individuals were jailed.

Meanwhile, the AFP and PNP have also blatantly violated International Humanitarian Law and the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) in the cold-blooded murders of hors de combat revolutionaries like Kerima Lorena Tariman (Ka Ella), Marilyn Badayos (Ka Anita), Florida Ceballos (Ka Panie), Romeo Nanta (Ka Juanito Magbanua), Ericson Acosta (Ka Fredo), Rogelio Posadas (Ka Cocoy), and the recent Tabugon massacre which included a pregnant woman.

With Marcos Jr and Sara Duterte at the helm, state crimes continue. Mercenary troops of the AFP and PNP hound both the countryside and the cities, utilizing the NTF-Elcac as a rubber stamp, to continue its legacy of numerous crimes against humanity such as extrajudicial killings, abductions, red-tagging, threats and harassments, indiscriminate firing and bombing, environmental destruction, and exploitation of women. Behind it all is imperialist plunder that ravages Negros Island and its people.

State terrorism and fascism in the name of anti-communism is the ruling class desperately suppressing the national democratic movement of the oppressed and exploited Filipino people. The current Marcos regime is a paper tiger seemingly intimidating, yet in truth vulnerable. History shows, however, that counterrevolution has only been able to spark a greater revolutionary movement.

Thus, what has been said before remains true: the reactionary state is the number one recruiter for the NPA. The implementation of MO32 along with the NTF-Elcac and Anti-Terror Law has worsened the suffering of Negrosanons and the Filipino people caused by landlessness, poverty and hunger. More than ever, armed revolution is just and necessary to fight state terrorism.

Negrosanons, take up arms, join the NPA!
Resist state terrorism and fascism!
Justice for all victims of human rights violations!

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