While ostensibly denying that the 79th Infantry Battalion is planning to bomb Northern Negros Natural Park covering swathe of mountain ranges and forest lands in Murcia and other towns, 303rd Brigade Commander Inocencio Pasaporte could not helped himself but show off the AFP’s aerial assets.

He bragged about smart or precision bombs that can be delivered by the ageing OV-10 Broncho and newly acquired A-29 Super Tucano bombers to hit specific targets and strike “decisive” blows against the NPA.

The Rose Jean Pelle Command of the NPA’s North Negros Front earlier reported about this malevolent plan citing verified information from various reliable sources, including one from the AFP itself.

Pasaporte’s logic, if you can call it that, is contradictory at its very core and ambivalent at the very least. He denies planning to bomb said areas, but at the same time prates about precise decisive aerial strikes. Indeed, by denying he is actually admitting.

Precision bombs or not, these bombs can inflict irreparable damage and destruction to the people residing and farming in these areas, as well as, to the environment that are supposedly “protected areas.”

Besides, the record of AFP’s aerial bombings can hardly be called precise. The AFP has dropped at least 591 bombs against the NPA since 2017. But only 109 actually hit an NPA camp, with an accuracy rate of only 18.44%.

As Negrosanons confront the adverse effects of Tiempo Muerto (dead season) often marked by pervasive poverty, hunger and lack of work, it is the height of callousness to squander millions of tax payers’ money for useless bombing operations. These funds are better spent on much needed social services and subsidies to poor families.

Pasaporte is obviously showing off to please his new commander-in-chief and gain favor, especially with Marcos Jr’s upcoming SONA spectacle. ##