Red fighters of the Armando Sumayang Jr. Command (ASJC) of the New People’s Army’s Southwest Negros Front ambushed a platoon of the 15th Infantry Battalion last Wednesday afternoon, July 8, 2020 in Brgy. Pinggot, Ilog Town, Negros Occidental, killing at least 12 AFP soldiers and wounding four others.

In a statement, the ASJC said that the NPA action was in response to the clamor of peasant masses in Southwest Negros seeking redress from the growing cases of arson, destruction of crops, illegal arrest, fake surrender and other rights abuses and criminal acts perpetrated by the elements of the 15th IB and the 32nd DRC which have intensified military operations in the rural communities of Kabankalan City, Ilog, Hinobaan, Candoni and Cauayan since April this year.

The ambush came a couple of weeks after another ASJC unit harassed a CAA detachment in Sitio Bugtong Lubi, Brgy. Damutan, Hinobaan Town on June 19.

While congratulating its Red fighters and commanders for the successful series of tactical offensives, the ASJC also condemned the 15th IB’s “desperate and dastardly acts of retaliatory terror which target hundreds of civilians in violation of international humanitarian law,” citing the military’s imposition of a complete lockdown on Sitio Montilo in Brgy. Pinggot since July 9 and the illegal arrest and detention of Emmylou Canares, George Bugaay, Relyn Moreno and Raffy Pataho on July 10 in Brgy. Magballo, Kabankalan City.

The four unarmed activists and peasant organizers now face trumped up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives and continue to be deprived of their basic rights.##