The Romeo Nanta Command-New People’s Army (RNC-NPA) and the masses of South Central Negros condemn the hypocritical 94th IB for their recent extortion activities in hinterland barangays in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental and nearby areas. The fascist troops are utilizing traitors of the revolution turned paramilitary and posed them as NPA members, imposing revolutionary taxation on landlords and asking for material support from the people.

While preaching the lie that the NPA conducts ‘extortion’, the 94th IB are in reality the ones performing these illegal and dishonorable activities. Most recently, surrenderees led by alias ‘Suli/Inday’, ‘Miguel’, ‘Berber’ among others have roamed around barangays Buenavista, Carabalan, Mahalang, and San Antonio in Himamaylan City, and Barangay Hilamonan in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental. Armed with high powered rifles, these scoundrels pretend to be Red fighters while forcibly taking ‘tax’ from the people, and spending them on vices such as drugs and alcohol.

LTC Siegfried Tayaban, commanding officer of the 94th IB, must be reprimanded and removed from service for allowing such a heinous crime perpetrated by his own troops. The aforementioned surrenderees are handled by officers of the battalion, and act as nothing more but inconsequential slaves and butchers who have threatened and assaulted residents in barangays Mahalang and Carabalan a few weeks ago.

By now, surrenderees who were promised ‘a way out’ should realize that they are becoming accessories of fascists and the ruling class. They are being treated like trash, commanded by money-grubbing military officials and doing the dirty work while being paid a measly salary, if there is any. By now surrenderees, especially those who have committed crimes against the people and the revolution, should realize that they have made the wrong choice.

It is high time that the AFP put an end to their lies, when it is they themselves who are the real perpetrators. After declaring that the ‘NPA in Negros can no longer disrupt the elections’, their troops are having a field day in stealing money from the masses while also being prioritized by taxpayer money through their wages and allowances.

Tayaban and his cohorts cannot fool the people who already know what the true colors of the 94th IB are. Unwittingly, they are recruiting for the NPA each time they commit an atrocity against farmers and indigenous peoples. The rotten ruling system that the 94th IB defends will only bolster the revolution.