June 14, 2023 was marked by heavy bloodshed when the supposed peaceful sleep of the Fausto family and their neighbors were interrupted by deafening gunshots. At around 11 pm, Roly Fausto and Merlinda Fausto, including their two children, 15-year-old Ben and 12-year-old Ravin, were mercilessly massacred by the 94th Infantry Battalion and a CAFGU unit at their home in Sitio Kangkiling, Barangay Buenavista, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental.

The couple were members of a local peasant mass organization which actively pushes for wage increase, genuine agrarian reform, and social justice, among others. Bringing the interest of the peasant sector, Roly and Merlinda Fausto became vulnerable to the red-tagging scheme of the reactionary government, a tactic as old as our ancestors, to silence the exploited and oppressed Filipino people.

Despite the numerous threats received by the couple, the Fausto couple continued to struggle for the democratic right of farmers for a land to till. Far from their demands, the Marcos Jr regime, as expected, silenced their mouths with goons and guns. The parcel of land they demanded for tilling became their burial ground and the rest remains at the hand of the landlords and bureaucrat-capitalists.

Seventeen presidents of the reactionary government have taken their turns in ruling the country, but not one had genuinely responded to the people’s struggle. Campaigns of suppression and widespread terror, especially in the countryside targeting farmers, continues to intensify. Harrassment, intimidation, illegal arrest, abduction, extrajudicial killings, and bombing of civilian communities, are just the tip of the iceberg. Akin to the previous reactionary administrations, the Marcos Jr fascist regime has no interest in pursuing the path of genuine peace and development.

The Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Magbubukid (PKM)-South Central Negros remembers today the painful death of the Fausto family. One year has passed yet justice remains far-fetched for them. Their story is one of the countless narratives of the victims of state-perpetrated murder who were deprived of justice even to this day.

The perpetrators of such crimes suffered by the Fausto family, namely the butcher AFP, PNP, and the paramilitary forces of the Marcos Jr regime, specifically the 94th IB, continue to shy away from taking accountability. Not even a pinch of effort coming from them is aimed at giving justice to the family. Worse, they continue to spread terror in the hinterlands of South Central Negros and victimize more farmers in the area under their losing counter-insurgency program. It is apparent that the justice system of the reactionary government only gives the Filipino people an illusion of a functional judiciary.

As an organization bannering the true interest of the peasant class, it is only fitting that PKM-South Central Negros harbor revolutionary rage towards the fascist regime for their war crimes and terrorism. This is where we draw our strength to intensify the clamor for genuine land reform, social justice, and democracy. We will continue to arouse, organize, and mobilize to establish the nucleus of the People’s Democratic Government in the countryside until the people’s democratic revolution encircle the cities and achieve total victory. ###