MANILA – The claim of Save Our School (SOS) Network that the three indigenous people (IP) killed in an encounter with government troops in Surigao del Sur last week were mere "farmers" during a protest rally in front of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is fake news.
During the recent virtual press conference of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), Lt. Col. Benedict Gernale, army operation commander who carried out anti-insurgency operations in Lianga town, confirmed that the fatalities were armed combatants of the New People's Army (NPA) killed in the encounter that took place last June 15 in the province, contrary to the SOS Network’s fabricated lies.
Gernale showed a photo of the body of the slain male combatant armed with an automatic rifle indicating that he was indeed a fighter of the NPA. He was identified as Willy Salinas Rodriguez, 20, a member of the NPA's Sentro de Grabidad Southland, North Eastern Mindanao Regional Committee.
"Wala rin pong abacahan sa area (There is also no abaca plantation in the area)," Gernale pointed out, repudiating SOS Network’s earlier claims on social media that the victims were allegedly harvesting abaca when they were killed.
The military official also said the two other fatalities were both female warriors, one of whom was still a minor.
Gernale said the incident confirmed the intelligence reports they have received from the area that the group was recruiting combatants.
He added that this was bolstered by the information received from a teenager that government forces have rescued from the NPA in an encounter that happened a day earlier.
Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, the task force spokesperson for Social Media Affairs and Sectoral Concerns, said the SOS Network was created by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the National Democratic Front (NDF) similar to other militant organizations they have formed to gain power in Congress that now forms the Makàbayan Bloc composed of party-list groups Bayan Muna, Kabataan, ACT Teachers and Gabriela.
"Nagsisinungaling sila (SOS Network). Dito ipinakikita kung paano ang trato ng NPA sa mga IPs (They are lying. It shows how the NPA treats the IPs). Blatant use of children is a gross violation of IHL (International Humanitarian Laws)," Badoy said.
Earlier, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has recorded a total of 1,506 violations of IHL committed by the CPP-NPA-NDF just in the last decade, including the abduction of 544 children and forcing them to become “child warriors”, mostly from IPs.
On the other hand, Datu Constancio Duhac, the chieftain of the Lianga tribe, said while they were saddened by the unfortunate incident, they nonetheless thanked the military for respecting their customary laws by returning the bodies to their families and providing them a decent burial.
"Just like what they (soldiers) did to the daughter of (Eufemia) Cullamat," Duhac said, referring to Bayan Muna Party-list Rep.'s daughter who was an NPA combatant who was killed last year near the vicinity of the latest encounter. (PR)
