Led by Bai Indigenous Women’s Network, progressive groups strongly condemned the 88th IB fascist troops for brutally killing indigenous woman Nenita Buscada in Barangay St. Peter, Malaybalay City, Bukidnon on June 15.

Buscada was reportedly with her husband and two other civilians heading to the forest to gather wood for livelihood and means to buy school supplies for their children when the military suddenly pelted them with bullets. This immediately killed Buscada and wounded her husband. The 88th IB’s excuse for firing is that they mistook the victims as fighters of the New People’s Army (NPA).

Bai national coordinator Kim Falyao in a statement emphasized that the military’s excuse is unacceptable. “The killing of Nenita is not merely a ‘mistake’ or a simple ‘misencounter.’ This is a clear violation of international humanitarian law (IHL)… and an attack against indigenous women who care for their communities,” Falyao said.

Lt. Col. Arnold Bautista, commander of the 88th IB, also offered a shallow apology, which the group says is insufficient. The military’s words are meaningless amid a long history of fascism, impunity, and state terrorism on ancestral lands. Bai insists genuine justice for the victims will not come from the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) phony admission of petty mistake, but from radical change in the countryside.

“True justice is the dismantling of military camps and detachments in our territories; the end of militarization, bombings, and all forms of intimidation against our communities,” Falyao added.

The group warned the US-Marcos regime that bloodshed against innocent civilians will continue as long as military operations continue on ancestral lands and the state refuses to address the root of the armed conflict. The group called on the people to unite and fight the prevailing tyranny and militarization in the countryside.