• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The death of 19 suspected New People’s Army rebels in Toboso, Negros Occidental, has drawn mixed reactions from the Roman Catholic Church, local government leaders, as well as peace advocates.
San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Undersecretary Ernesto C Torres Jr., executive director of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), mourned the death of 19 persons, following series of armed encounters between suspected New People’s Army and security forces in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso on April 19.
In a pastoral statement, Bishop Alminaza lamented the incident where lives were taken, and many families have been plunged into grief.
We cannot accept this as normal, we cannot allow ourselves to grow indifferent to the taking of human life, the bishop said.
“This painful incident reveals something deeper about our shared reality…. Violence does not arise in a vacuum. It takes root where wounds have long been left unattended – where poverty persists, where injustice is endured, where trust between people and institutions has been broken, and where hope in peaceful change has slowly faded.” Alminaza said.
The bishop appealed to those involved in the armed struggle to move away from violence in the pursuit of justice, and move toward paths of dialogue that uphold life and human dignity.
He also called on security forces to seek peace, not only through strength, but justice, compassion and unwavering respect for human rights, for local leaders and institutions to act with urgency in addressing structural conditions that fuel armed conflict, and for communities to continue to be an instrument of peace in homes, barangays and parishes.
Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson expressed deep sadness over the heavy human cost of the encounter. “It is painful to see Filipinos fighting fellow Filipinos, with at least 19 individuals reported killed in the clash,” he said.
But he reiterated his call for the rebel remnants to lay down their arms and join the government. For those that have already done so, Lacson said that provincial and national governments have done their share to give them a fresh start.
We are ready to help them, the governor said, stressing that the provincial government will continue to support reintegration programs that provide livelihood, housing, and other benefits to rebels who choose to surrender.
Undersecretary Torres stressed that the death of 19 suspected rebels “is not a moment for celebration. It is a moment of reflection and reckoning.”
Because behind the encounter are Filipino lives lost—lives that could have taken a different path, lives that were drawn into a struggle that offers nothing but destruction. What we are seeing here is the tragic outcome of terror-grooming—a deliberate and systematic process of recruitment and indoctrination that preys on the youth and the vulnerable, Torres added.
Many are treated as cannon fodder—used, deployed, and ultimately sacrificed by a leadership that remains distant from the battlefield. This is not a legitimate cause. This is manipulation, control and exploitation disguised as ideology, he stressed.
Compounding this is the reality of spy-tagging killings that continue to haunt communities in Negros, Torres said, citing reports of security forces at least 45 civilians killed by the NPA after being labeled as “informants” or “traitors,” averaging three to four killings per month since 2025.
While our forces have successfully neutralized an armed threat, we must confront the painful truth that those who perished were Filipinos—misled, manipulated, and ultimately sacrificed by a collapsing terrorist movement that continues to feed on lies and deception, Torres said.*
