Lawmaker seeks probe of Negros Island battle
ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio on Saturday urged a congressional panel to investigate a military operation last week that left 19 people dead in Negros Occidental, including a 22-year-old student of the University of the Philippines (UP).
“We cannot accept a blanket ‘encounter’ narrative that automatically justifies the deaths of 19 people … Congress must investigate what happened in Toboso.” said Tinio, who has served intermittently in the House of Representatives since 2010.
Tinio did not say whether he himself filed a bill seeking the investigation or whether he had consulted with Speaker Faustino Dy on such a measure, but he said the House Human Rights Committee should scrutinize the military’s account of the encounter.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines confirmed in a statement on April 23 that elements of the Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion, under the 303rd Infantry Brigade, clashed with members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Barangay Salamanca in Toboso, Negros Occidental, on April 19.
The AFP claimed the operation was launched based on verified reports from civilians who were evacuated from the area as government forces engaged the NPA throughout the day, starting at 4 a.m.
By the end of the battle, 19 members of the NPA group were killed, including identified leaders and 24 firearms were seized.
The AFP did not identify any of the fatalities or other casualties in the clash, but on April 23, the NPA’s Apolinario Gatmaitan Command in Negros Island said in a statement that among those killed were a small squad of revolutionary fighters who were with “civilians and human rights advocates.”
A certain Maoche Legislador, the spokesperson of the NPA command, said the NPA squad was led by Roger Fabillar, who was one of the fatalities. Another was Roel Sabillo, a local farmer who was working at his uncle’s business at the time, he added.
The NPA said: “The rest were civilians documenting a peasant activity, standing alongside farmers who are consistently pushed to the margins by landgrabbing and systemic neglect,” Legislador said.
The Communist Party of the Philippines said at least five of those killed in the clash were civilians, and claimed the incident as a “war crime,” but it did not explain why civilians—at least one of whom was a student—were allowed to go with an NPA unit in a known “war zone” since the 1980s.
Among the fatalities were RJ Nichole Ledesma, a 30-year-old journalist affiliated with the alternative media group Paghimutad-Negros and who served as a regional coordinator for Altermidya on Negros Island.
Also among the slain was UP student Alyssa Alano, whom the UP Student Council described as its Education and Research Councilor, who was a peasant organizer in Negros Island.
Peasant groups Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and Tanggol Magsasaka also identified two others as advocates, Maureen Keil Santuyo and Errol Wendel.
Tinio said the congressional probe should determine “who gave the orders, what the rules of the engagement were, whether excessive force was used, and whether there were violations of international humanitarian law and basic human rights.”
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