New People’s Army Southeast Negros Front Rachelle Mae Palang Command (RMPC-NPA) decried the appointment of former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Debold Sinas as undersecretary at the Office of the President calling it a “[desecration] of the memories of the victims of massacres and other killings in Negros Island three years ago.”

In a statement, the RMPC-NPA remarked that it was not surprised by Duterte’s appointment of Sinas considering the President’s penchant to fill government positions with retired military or police officials known for their records of grave human rights abuses.

According to Estrella Banagbanag, RMPC-NPA spokesperson, Gen. Sinas was responsible for the gruesome murders of civilians in Negros Oriental during his stint as Central Visayas police chief in 2018-2019.

“He led the bloody anti-insurgency campaigns Oplan Sauron 1 & 2 and Oplan Branstark as part of the Synchronized Enhanced Managing of Police Operations (SEMPO) that resulted in the mass murders of 37 unarmed farmers and personalities like barangay captains, city councilors, an ex-mayor, DepEd educators and officials and lawyers,” she said.

She recalled that the most brutal of the Sinas-led killing spree was the cold-blooded murder of peasant and transport leader Franklin Lariosa by masked policemen in front of his family including his then 4-year old youngest child at Sitio Omol, Barangay Talalac, Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental during Oplan Sauron 2 on March 29, 2019.

Another is the massacre of the Ocampo family during the implementation of Oplan Branstark in Barangay San Jose, Sta. Catalina on July 26, 2019 wherein men in camouflage uniforms strafed their small hut with assault rifles while they were sleeping that resulted in the death of one year old Marjun and his father while his mother barely survived, she stated.

Before the implementation of SEMPO, nine peasants were gunned down in Hacienda Nene in Sagay, Negros Occidental on October 2018 now known as the Sagay Massacre.

“Along with his fascist chieftain Duterte, Sinas has yet to be held accountable for these heinous crimes and must be indicted in the people’s court to face punishment,” she declared.##