Sultan Kudarat police director Senior Supt. Raul Supiter was totally lying about the NPA surrenderees he avowed in a media interview. He was very quick to claim for himself, the PNP and the AFP the honor of apprehending vulnerable civilians they accuse as NPA rebels to enshroud their inutile effort to crush the revolutionary armed struggle in Sultan Kudarat province.

The AFP and the PNP in connivance with some local bureaucrats are bloating about their fabricated ‘surrenderees’ in the Sen. Ninoy Aquino area. They employ psywar and red baiting to elicit fear among the people and use the barangay officials as agents who instigate the surrender. Apart from crafting an ostensive achievement to brag, the military and local government officials led by the town mayor Randy Ecija Jr. have turned it into a money-spinning racket. How much they pocketed from the government’s amnesty fund and livelihood assistance for rebel returnees, this we can only guess.

Since February the Daguma area has been militarized in coincident with the David M. Consunji Incorporated’s (DMCI) expanded IFMA operations and deemed large scale mining undertakings. The Western Mindanao Command (WESTMINCOM) of the AFP created the Joint Task Force Central that combines the 33rd IB-PA, 57th IB-PA, 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade, and the 2nd and 5th Marine Battalion Landing Teams to take charge of the area.

While 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade commander Col. Bismarck Soliba contended that the NPA in Sultan Kudarat is losing members due to demoralization in the ranks and JTF Central commander Maj. Gen. Arnel dela Vega have ostentatiously announced that the “surrender” reflects the waning influence of the communist movement in the countryside, they should be reminded that lies and deceit will never win the war for the AFP. In fact, these will isolate them more from the people and towards the AFP’s eventual downfall.

More importantly, it is but proper that the AFP abide by the international humanitarian laws as they have so continually boasted about. As such we demand that the AFP accord the civilians the proper conduct as stipulated in the Rules of War of the Geneva Convention and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect of Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).