• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Army’s 3rd Infantry Division yesterday welcomed the independent probe of the Commission on Human Rights into the recent deaths of six alleged New People’s Army rebels, as a result of an encounter in Brgy. Tabugon, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.
In a statement, the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division maintained that it was a legitimate encounter.
We welcome any inquiry to this effect by any independent party, as the result of the investigation will eventually clear and vindicate us from various allegations of human rights violations whatsoever, Maj. Gen. Marion Sison, 3ID commander, said.
In the conduct of combat operations, Sison emphasized that they strictly follow the Armed Forces of the Philippines Rules of Engagements at all times, as well as always observe and abide by the provisions of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and the Rule of Law.
Every soldier understood that transgressions and departure from these directives are dealt with severely, he further stressed.
In a statement, the NPA Armando Sumayang Jr. Command claimed that it was a massacre.
Vincent Parra, head of the CHR sub office in Negros Occidental, disclosed that they received information that one of the six casualties in the alleged encounter was a pregnant woman.
These are all allegations, according to Parra, that they will validate on Thursday.
Sison called on the public to be more discerning on NPA narratives, as he dismissed it as mere propaganda designed to discredit government security forces, purposely crafted to ignite the ire of the populace against the government.
We should not simply accept and believe their messaging hook, line and sinker. We appeal to the public to exercise discretion towards this end, he added.
Vincent Parra, head of the CHR sub office in Negros Occidental, disclosed that they received information that the New People’s Army claimed it was not an encounter, but an ambush, and one of the casualties was a pregnant woman.
While these are all allegations, Parra said they will validate on Thursday, by looking into the police blotters, and check the identities of those killed in the reported encounter.
Sison further said that those who died in the Kabankalan encounter were top cadres of the NPA, with a long record of notoriety is well known in southern Negros.
It was also found by the 3ID that one of the five handguns recovered from the slain rebels was a .45 caliber pistol owned by the late Army Sgt. Regie Glindro, who was killed in an ambush in Brgy. Camindangan, Sipalay City, last year.
Sison also said that the slain rebels perpetrated numerous atrocities in southern Negros, including the killing of Pastor Lonie Lahaolahao in Brgy Camindangan, Sipalay City in February 2020; ambush of two Army personnel in Brgy Yaoyao, Cauayan and as well as the liquidation of two other Army soldiers in Brgy Camindangan, Sipalay City in April and November last year, burning of construction equipment in Brgy Orong Kabankalan City and Brgy Camindangan, Sipalay City, both in March 2022, as well as the summary execution of Silas Granada in Ilog town, in January this year.
The responsibility in the commission of the crimes was claimed by the NPA in numerous statements they issued in previous months.*
