Communist Party of the Philippines
September 16, 2018
The Communist Party of the Philippines joins the families, the Bangsamoro and the Filipino people in condemning the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the brutal killing of seven Tausug farmers last September 14 in Barangay Tambang, Patikul, Sulu. The massacre was perpetrated by operating troops of the Philippine Army Scout Rangers.
Killed were Makrub Diray, Basirun Hayrani, Mijan Hayrani, Binnajar Asak, Salip Maknun Sakirin, Hassan Hamsam and highschool student Alpadal Diray. The victims were harvesting mangosteen and lanzones at the time of their killing.
To justify their crime, the AFP later misrepresented the farmers as terrorists.
The Patikul massacre adds to the long list of fascist crimes perpetrated by the AFP over the past year. Under Duterte’s Mindanao martial law and Oplan Kapayapaan, the military has been given free pass in mounting wide-ranging attacks against the people.
The Bangsamoro people suffer the regime’s ferocity as vast lands are being ravaged by the AFP to pave the way for the encroachment of plantations and mining companies. Lumads and poor peasants elsewhere in the island bear the same circumstances.
The CPP calls on the Bangsamoro and the rest of the Filipino people to resist all-out Duterte’s martial law which inflicts death and destruction with impunity.
The Party enjoins the armed fighters of the Moro people to work together with or join the New People’s Army as they wage armed resistance for self-determination and to attain revolutionary justice for the deaths of thousands of their kin under the rule of the oppressive and exploitative classes.
