Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Negros and Human Rights Advocates Negros (HRAN) condemned the 303rd IBde plan to set up an intelligence network in the cities and towns of Northern Negros. The military announced the plan last week.
According to Bayan-Negros, the 303rd IBde plan is nothing but state terrorism disguised as “community defense.” The group said the military uses “monitoring” of the revolutionary movement as an excuse to openly intensify surveillance, harassment, and militarization in rural communities.
In a statement, the 303rd IBde said that the military is working with local governments in Northern Negros, from mayors to barangay captains, in establishing the intel network. Some of the towns and cities identified in the plan are Calatrava, Toboso, Escalante City, and Cadiz City.
Bayan-Negros added that the military plan clearly extends its modus of arbitrarily labeling farmers, workers, and organizers as “remnants” of the NPA to justify attacks against them and their livelihoods.
According to the group, the 303rd IBde plan is dangerous but ridiculous since it already placed the entire island of Negros under the category of Stable Internal Peace and Security (SIPS) last year. The Marcos regime also declared in his 4th SONA that “no guerrilla groups remain” in the country.
“If they all guerrilla fronts are claimed crushed, why the sudden rush to form an intel network?” Bayan-Negros asked. The group said the 303rd IBde seems to be hunting the ghosts of the Red fighters it had already declared wiped out.
Bayan-Negros and HRAN pointed out that the planned intel network targets mass organizations and people’s struggles. Bayan-Negros said these networks installed in sitios and barangays open avenues for persecution, forced surrenders, and other human rights violations.
HRAN noted its similarity to the despised “Alsa Masa” in the 1980s, which became an instrument of mass killings in Negros. “These intelligence networks could be armed and serve as death squads that targets local leaders of activist organizations,” HRAN said.
Even before the formation of the intelligence network, the Armed Forces of the Philippines had been implementing in its unit areas the Integrated Territorial Defense System (ITDS), which trains Barangay Peacekeeping Action Teams (BPAT) for counterinsurgency. This relates to the deployment of the military and police Mobile Community Support and Sustainment Program (MCSSP) in barangays.
Bayan-Negros believes these are components of the overall Marcos regime’s National Action Plan on Unity, Peace, and Development (NAP-UPD) now being implemented and led by the National Task Force-Elcac. This is structured under the “whole of nation approach” bred by the US counterinsurgency campaign.
The two groups called on the people of Northern Negros to stay vigilant against military attacks. They also urged the masses of Negros to demand their local officials to resist the 303rd IBde’s coercion and control.
