A recent forensic report on murdered National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant and former political prisoner Ericson Acosta revealed the monstrosity of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the counterrevolutionary war of the US-Marcos II regime.

According to the report, Acosta was shot post-mortem—an inhumane act which proved that Acosta and peasant organizer Joseph Jimenez were murdered in cold-blood by state forces. The 3rd ID’s false claim of an encounter is but a trademark of their barbarism, shamelessly peddling lies to cover up their numerous human rights violations on the island.

On the second quarter of 2023 alone, 92 cases of HRVs were recorded in Negros, affecting more than 3,000 individuals. These cases, part of more than 300 in just a year of Marcos Jr’s reign, involve the AFP, Philippine National Police (PNP) and National Task Force (NTF)-Elcac’s fabrications of fake encounters, forced surrenders, murders of civilians and hors de combats, illegal arrests, among others.

Fear and impunity are tools of the desperate ruling class to cling on to the rotting semi-colonial and semi-feudal system. And history has taught us well that these tools cannot deter the will of the masses knee-deep in such a cruel system, desirous of change.

Thus, NDF-Negros invites the media, human rights groups and advocates, and other concerned organizations and individuals to integrate in the militarized communities and extract the truth amid the sea of lies harped on by the AFP. The people are the genuine source of the truth, not the worn-out script of the likes of Arevalo, Sison, and their sycophant cohorts.

Furthermore, NDF-Negros strongly urges patriotic troops from the rank-and-file of the AFP and PNP, and those victimized by the NTF-Elcac’s various anomalous programs, to reveal the truth of the various killings and crimes committed by these mercenary institutions. You know better than becoming attack dogs and cannon fodder of your corrupt generals and their imperialist masters.

The fight for justice continues. In this dark era where lie after lie has become the norm to cloak the crimes of the state, it is the duty of the people to bravely fight for the truth.

It is a difficult yet a necessary fight to defend the oppressed majority of farmers and workers. The more crimes the reactionary troops commit, the more we must affirm how exploitation begets collective resistance.