• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Philippine government’s anti-insurgency body has escalated its campaign against communist rebels onto the international stage, bringing documented cases of civilian killings and human rights violations in Negros Island before the United Nations.
During a high-level engagement with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN-OHCHR), the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) presented comprehensive documentation covering 71 alleged cases of arbitrary killings and abuses attributed to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
In a statement, NTF-ELCAC reported that out of 49 killings allegedly perpetrated by the NPA in Negros from January last year to the present, 39 occurred in Negros Occidental and 10 in Negros Oriental.
The task force noted that nine out of every 10 victims recorded nationwide over the period were from Negros, driven largely by a surge in “spy-tagging.”
NTF-ELCAC said its recent presentation to UN-OHCHR focused heavily on the practice of “spy tagging,” wherein farmers, community workers, and local residents are branded as military informants or intelligence assets.
According to the task force, these individuals are frequently subjected to summary trials by so-called “kangaroo courts” before being executed, stripping them of due process and placing non-combatants in severe danger.
NTF-ELCAC executive director Undersecretary Danilo Pamonag emphasized that the documentation demands robust examination from the international human rights community.
He argued that atrocities committed by non-state armed groups must face the same level of scrutiny, accountability, and international condemnation as abuses alleged against state actors.
For communities across Negros that have lived under the shadow of decades-long insurgency, the NTF-ELCAC stressed that international intervention is vital.
Pamonag reiterated calls for the continuous, systematic reporting of non-state armed violence to ensure that marginalized victims receive equal access to justice and protection from ongoing coercion and intimidation. | GPB
