FFPS Global Secretariat
The Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (FFPS) condemns the atrocities of the 79th Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines that resulted in the massacre and mass displacement of civilians in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental last April 19. We mourn and extend our condolences to the families of the 19 killed while documenting the unbearable conditions of poor peasants in the region.
The false claims of the AFP and the NTF-ELCAC that the massacre was a “battle victory” against 19 red fighters of the New Peoples Army and the endless red-tagging once again prove the rotten and fascist character of the US-Marcos regime and its disinformation offensive.
Among the 19 killed by the AFP were development workers, human rights advocates, and students, and a journalist who were in the area interviewing peasants with nothing but notebooks and other documentation tools. But true to its nature, the AFP and the Philippine government spew claims that the 19 were all armed combatants.
What took place Toboso was an egregious war crime, a violation of the laws of combat under international humanitarian law (IHL), which was established to protect civilians, non-combatants, and hors de combat during war time. The US-Marcos regime is desperate to cover it up with a lies. We cannot let them succeed. We support the outcry for an independent investigation and for the perpetrators, not just those who pulled the trigger but the state authorities who issued the strafing order, to be held accountable.
In 2024, FFPS co-convened the International Peoples Tribunal on the Philippines, where victims and their families of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and aerial bombings delivered testimonies on the terror of the AFP’s operations in the countryside and on peasant communities. The verdict overwhelmingly found the Philippine government guilty of violating IHL, and recognized the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) as leading a national liberation struggle from the countryside, where the majority of the Filipino people live in poverty and hunger due to landlessness and feudal exploitation of big landlords.
The systemic killings of and other war crimes on peasants struggling in poverty, development workers and human rights advocates who are seeking to bring about a change to the worsening crisis felt throughout the country only amplifies what FFPS and other solidarity friends for the Philippines have always known– the right to resist, including armed struggle, of a people subjugated or oppressed is not only a right enshrined in international law, but urgent and justified for the Filipino people to exercise now more than ever. Like the revolutionary movement, we salute all the martyrs who paid the ultimate price of living under a fascist, terrorist regime. Their lives lost will not be in vain, and others will surely join their ranks as the crisis worsens. We are more inspired than ever to stand with and support the Filipino people in their just struggle for genuine democracy and liberation.
Justice for the Toboso 19! Stop the Attacks on Peasant Communities!
Independent and Impartial Investigation Now!
No Aid for the War Crimes of the US-Marcos Regime!
Land for the Peasants! Justice for Negros!
Mabuhay ang Sambayanan Pilipino!