The Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade reported that 750 farmers disaffiliated and withdrew their support from the National Federation of Sugarcane Workers (NFSW) during a mass condemnation rally Oct. 30 in Brgy. E Lopez, Silay City, Negros Occidental.
Brig. Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, said the farmers who withdrew their support are members and key leaders of Hacienda Pula-Silay Agrarian Reform Cooperative, Purok Sunshine, AIDSISA Agriculture Workers Association, Purok Langka, AIDSISA Farmer and Farm Workers Association, Hacienda Caridad Farmers and Farm Workers Association, and Agricultural Farmers and Farm Worker Association.
Pasaporte said they also took their oaths of allegiance to the Philippine government before Brgy. Captain Memia Gallego, burned replica flags of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army, hoisted banners and placards announcing their disaffiliation from NFSW, and joined the symbolic signing of resolutions passed by their respective associations approving the creation of the Barangay Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
He lauded the decision of the farmers to split from NFSW and to strongly condemn the abuses of communist terrorist groups (CTGs).
“We call on all sectors to be wary of these organizations linked with the CPP-NPA,” Pasaporte said, adding that their deceptive nature and strategy will infiltrate and destroy the farmers.
He said that what the farmers did should be emulated by other sectors of society. — GB
