The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict on Tuesday declared the Negros Island Region as the “epicenter” of alleged CPP-NPA-NDF spy-tagging killings and summary executions of civilians, citing what it described as a pattern of violence targeting residents accused of being government informants.
In a strongly worded statement, NTF-ELCAC executive director Ernesto Torres Jr. said the “bloodstained truth can no longer be hidden behind propaganda, slogans, and carefully manufactured human rights narratives.”
Data cited by the task force showed that from 2021 to May 2026, at least 59 documented spy-tagging killings and summary executions allegedly attributed to the CPP-NPA-NDF were recorded nationwide. Of the total, 51 victims were from Negros — 41 in Negros Occidental and 10 in Negros Oriental.
According to the NTF-ELCAC, 49 of the 51 victims in Negros were killed between January 2025 and May 2026 alone.
“Nearly nine out of every ten victims recorded nationwide from 2025 to the present were killed in Negros,” Torres said. “This exposes the true face of the so-called people’s war that now victimizes the very people it once claimed to defend.”
The task force said the victims included farmers, laborers, church workers, tricycle drivers, barangay tanods, indigenous peoples leaders, former rebels, senior citizens, and civilians living in conflict-affected communities.
Among those identified were Jimmy Himay in Southern Leyte in 2021; Councilor Dennis Sadagnot in Negros Oriental in 2024; forest guard Elberto Ancero, barangay tanod Efren Solinap, farmer Rickne Daipal, habal-habal driver Jury Gane, and dried fish vendor Elias Palay in 2025; and church worker Rey Norquiana, former barangay official Rodulfo Fajardo, farmer Jemar Mahusay, and former rebel Joseph Agustin in 2026.
The task force also highlighted the case of 74-year-old Leonora Anguit of Barangay Tapi, Kabankalan City, who was allegedly executed on 3 February 2026 after being accused of being an “informant.”
“Lola Leonora was not killed in combat. She was not an armed fighter,” Torres said. “Her death exposes the horrifying practice of branding civilians as informants to justify executions outside any lawful judicial process.”
NTF-ELCAC also linked the recent spike in killings to the aftermath of the 19 April 2026 armed encounter in Toboso, Negros Occidental.
Following the clash, at least four civilians were reportedly killed in separate incidents allegedly perpetrated by NPA remnants. Authorities identified them as Lindio Alvino, 42, killed in Sipalay City on 22 April; farmer Jemar Mahusay, 53, executed in Calatrava on 5 May; farmer Gerry Baitan, 53, slain in Calatrava on 13 May; and former rebel Joseph Agustin, 38, killed in Binalbagan on 19 May.
“These civilian victims were publicly accused of being informants before being summarily executed,” Torres said. “Others were condemned by self-proclaimed kangaroo courts that possess absolutely no legal, constitutional, or moral authority.”
Torres also accused communist front organizations and their supporters of selectively invoking human rights issues only when rebels are killed during military operations.
“They loudly invoke human rights whenever armed rebels are neutralized during legitimate encounters, yet they remain disturbingly silent whenever poor farmers, laborers, church workers, indigenous peoples, and ordinary civilians are executed by their own movement,” he said.
“Their hypocrisy is staggering. Their silence is complicity.”
The NTF-ELCAC likewise urged the Commission on Human Rights to intensify investigations into the killings and apply equal standards in defending victims of human rights violations.
“The CHR must no longer remain selectively vocal on these civilian killings perpetrated by the remnants of the NPA,” Torres said. “Human rights are not exclusive to armed rebels or ideological allies. Human rights belong equally to poor farmers, laborers, tricycle drivers, barangay officials, church workers, and ordinary civilians murdered in remote communities.”
