The National Democratic Front (NDF)-Negros called on the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental to conduct more independent investigations in peasant communities and far-flung areas on the island where mainly farmers, farm workers and indigenous peoples are victims of human rights violations (HRVs) perpetrated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP) and their paramilitary forces, and the National Task Force (NTF)-Elcac.

“Negrosanons remain as top victims of HRVs as the island is a priority of state-sponsored violence,” NDF spokesperson Ka Bayani Obrero said.

According to Obrero, they have documented at least 345 cases of HRVs with more than 14,000 victims in 2023. “There are already 30 incidents of human rights abuses all over Negros involving over a thousand victims just this January 2024, increasing the US-Marcos II regime’s HRV toll to almost 600 cases with nearly 40,000 victims just on the island.”

Obrero listed the cases for January: extrajudicial killings-2 (four victims), frustrated killing-1 (one victim), illegal arrest-2 (three victims), physical assault-1 (two victims), indiscriminate firing of firearms-2 (90 victims), illegal search and seizure-1 (five victims), threat, harassment and intimidation-14 (582 victims); forcible evacuation and displacement-1 (50 victims), coercion-1 (50 victims), and encampment in populated areas-5 (400 victims).

“There are certainly undocumented cases, as well. What’s clear is the continually escalating and intensifying attacks by the AFP, PNP, and NTF-Elcac in the countryside and even in the cities,” he added.

Obrero also pointed out that the recent CHR complaint count is left wanting in grassroots data, especially that “the culture of impunity enveloping reactionary state troops has turned them rabid and on a rampage threatening, harassing, and silencing civilians in the countryside.”

“Additionally, the CHR should take supposed ‘encounters’ with a grain of salt, taking into account the military’s consistent history of faking encounters to justify their crimes against hors de combat revolutionaries and peasants,” said Obrero.

The rebel spokesperson noted that there have been 39 fake encounters in Negros Island under the current US-Marcos regime wherein 23 occurred last 2023 and two this January 2024. The most recent victims were two farmers in La Castellana, Negros Occidental.

The NDF-Negros urged the CHR to dig deep into the data offered by the AFP, PNP and NTF-Elcac, and assist the exploited and oppressed in their struggle for justice.