Revolutionary forces in Eastern Visayas today condemned the Marcos Jr regime’s recent purchase of 12 more units of FA-50 fighter jets, purportedly to “strengthen external defense,” but which will be used to intensify the bombing of peasant communities.
“The US-Marcos regime through the Department of National Defense perpetuates this lie yet again,” the National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas (NDF-EV) said. “As in the past, fighter jets have been used in its brutal war against the peasant masses in the countryside.”
“The Marcos regime must be made to account for the widespread psychological trauma, and damages to property and environment caused by its aerial bombing campaign, which constitutes superfluous attacks on the people.”
Citing collated reports from the New People’s Army, commissioned FA-50 fighter jets have been used in at least 10 aerial bombings in four of six provinces in the region. At least one has occurred every year from 2019-2024, with the most incidents (three) occurring in 2021 and 2022.
Gross violations of the laws of war can be seen in the following cases of aerial bombing:
- March 2024 in the interior part of Palapag, Northern Samar. Peasant Tuwing Lucendo was killed by “smart bombs,” but the military falsely claimed he died in a military encounter.
- November 2022 in Barangay Imelda, Las Navas, Northern Samar. After the bombing, barangay residents were also put under military lockdown (hamlet) for several days as troops scoured their farmlands.
- February 2022 in Barangay Deit de Turag, Silvino Lobos, Northern Samar. Dozens of coconut trees of a local peasant were damaged and could not bear fruit anymore.
- September 2021, in the tri-boundary area of Samar provinces, including barrios of Las Navas. Several houses and farmlands were damaged. Peasants staying the night in their farmlands were awakened by the sound of heavy aircraft. When one left his hut to investigate and flash his lights into the darkness, he was strafed. Traumatized barrio folk including children scampered in fear of the explosions.
- August 2021 Barangay Osmeña, Dolores, Eastern Samar. A projectile bore through the roof of a villager’s house which stood a few kilometers away from the focus of the attacks. Residents could not leave the barrio in fear of the bombs.
- October 2019, Barangay Caputoan, Las Navas, Northern Samar. A hut as well as farmlands of dozens of residents were damaged. The bombs left holes measuring 15-feet deep.
The NDF-EV also blasted the Marcos regime for squandering the government’s limited resources to beef up its war chest, instead of providing free irrigation and buying the peasants’ palay at a commensurate price to ensure rice remains affordable, among other improvements in the agricultural sector.
“Marcos remains tone deaf to the worsening hunger and poverty of the peasant masses, which new war toys can never solve. Adding insult to injury, the 8th Infantry Division has bombed farmlands where food is scarce to begin with,” added the NDF-EV.
Almost all cases of aerial bombings and artillery shellings in the region were carried out in farmlands in Northern Samar. Particularly in the Pacific area, in Silvino Lobos, and in the provincial boundary with Western Samar, where rice fields are relatively fewer. Peasants who do not own land thus need to earn money with cash crops, such as copra, to buy rice—a sack of which now costs P2,300 excluding transportation costs.
“When the fascist troops drop bombs, conduct combat operations outside the barrios, and put villages under lockdown, how can the poor peasants earn money to buy food? Now, they can’t even afford to eat rice three times a day.”
Marcos dragging PH towards US-China conflict
The NDF-EV also warned the Marcos regime that insisting on a militarist approach to the issue surrounding the South China Sea, as instigated by US imperialism, will only further tensions in the said international waters.
“Obliging his imperialist masters, Marcos is setting the Philippines up as a proxy for the US ‘first-island chain’ strategy against China.
“The Filipino people must demand that maritime conflicts be resolved through diplomatic means, to assert the country’s sovereignty over its territories and exclusive economic zone including the West Philippine Sea, and to de-escalate tensions in the South China Sea for the common good of the peoples surrounding these waters.
“But conducting maritime patrols and war games with the US, which has no business being there and only wishes to suppress China’s challenging of its crumbling world hegemony, will not deter China. Marcos is simply dragging the Filipino people into a war being instigated by the US imperialists,” the NDF-EV said.