We condemn the 94th Infantry Battalion for the willful killing last Monday of Jose Gonzales, 49 years old, a civilian resident of Barangay Carabalan, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental.

According to local reports, soldiers of the 94th IB accosted Gonzales and at gunpoint was made to dig up non-functional parts of weapons disposed by the New People’s Army (NPA). Gonzales was subsequently killed by the fascist agents of the 94th IB and later made to appear as a fighter of the NPA and reported to have died in an armed encounter.

We condemn the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for issuing false reports of a supposed armed encounter to cover-up the crime of killing Gonzales. In their statements, the AFP made false reports of an armed encounter in Sitio Maliko-liko in the said barangay, last Monday (January 9). Claims of high-powered weapons seized by the AFP are also false.

Based on information we have gathered from the local command of the NPA in Negros, there was no armed encounter in the area.

We support the Gonzales family’s demand for justice.

The killing of Gonzales aims to terrorize the people and suppress the peasant masses of Negros who continue to participate and provide deep and wide support to the NPA to defend themselves against state terrorism and fight landlordism and the oppressive and destructive operations of big foreign businesses.