In militant solidarity, the National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas joins today the people of Sag-od and the rest of the Filipino people in commemorating the 41st anniversary of the Sag-od massacre—the brutal killing of at least 46 peasants in the village of Sag-od, Las Navas, Northern Samar during the reign of Marcos Sr.

“The scars of Marcos Senior’s fascist deluge in the countryside persist to linger in the hearts and minds of the people of Sag-od, especially as his unapologetic son now sits prettily in Malacañang, his entire family of kleptocrats now feasts on the bureaucratic loot, and the 98-year-old reputed butcher and Sag-od massacre mastermind Juan Ponce Enrile stands as legal counsel to the new Marcos regime,” NDF-EV said.

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the 1972 declaration of martial law this month, the NDF-EV remembers the unprecedented horrors and miseries the people experienced in the hands of paramilitary state forces. Peasant men were mercilessly strafed in the barrio of Sag-od while the women were raped and eventually killed in the upstream of Sag-od river locally-called as Malapanit.

Beyond its sheer barbarity and savagery, the Sag-od massacre is a counter-revolutionary violence to subdue the people’s struggle against fascism and environmental plunder. The victims were rounded up and made to surrender before dying in the hands of paramilitary group Civilian Home Defense Force paid by Enrile’s San Jose Timber Corporation to suppress resistance against their logging syndicate within the forested area of Las Navas. They are victims of red-tagging, surrender campaign, environmental destruction, capitalist aggression, and consequent fascist attacks.

The conditions under the new Marcos regime run in semblance to this. Some hundred troops of the 8th Infantry Division currently occupy the same forested areas to serve as their tactical command post, effectively driving away sitio residents and dislocating farmers from their sources of livelihood. In rural villages of Las Navas, reactionary state forces remain true to their tradition as mercenaries, paid to harass resisting folks and protect businesses, secure roads and bridges to facilitate mineral ores, logs, and capital.

Survivors and families of victims of Sag-od massacre are twice victims of martial law. Recently, publicly-known survivor Enriqueta Toling was illegally arrested and detained after being summoned along with 25 others by state forces who wished to retaliate after an armed engagement with the Red fighters outside of the barrio.

NDF-EV said the painful memories and testimonies of Sag-od massacre survivors are living rebuttals against the revisionism, whitewashing efforts, and all sorts of maneuvers and publicity gimmicks by the present regime of Marcos Junior to deodorize his father’s dictatorship.

“We give tribute to the fallen heroes of Sag-od massacre as we salute the continuing struggle of the people of Sag-od who now face hundreds upon hundreds of enemy troops in the military’s large-scale, focused, and sustained military operations in the peasant communities of Las Navas. The commemoration of Sag-od massacre is a continuing struggle for truth and revolutionary justice against their fascist oppressors now represented by another Marcos presidency,” NDF-EV ended.#