From the CPP Website (Jul 6): CPP salutes fallen Bicol revolutionaries, denounces July 4 Juban massacre
The leadership and entire membership of the Communist Party of the Philippines and Red fighters and commanders of the New People’s Army rise up to salute
Frankie Joe Soriano (Ka Greg Bañares)
Christine Puche (Ka Nel)
Ted Palacio (Ka Gary)
Pehing Hipa (Ka Miloy)
David Llunar (Ka Rey)
Romero Añonuevo (Ka Nene)
William Villanueva, Jr (Ka Jay)
Ailyn Calma (Ka Kevin)
who were martyred in the early morning of July 4, 2013 in Barangay Calomayon, Juban, Sorsogon.
Ka Greg Bañares served as spokesperson of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in the Bicol region. He was with other members of the Information Office of the NDFP-Bicol and a security detail of the New People’s Army (NPA).
The CPP denounces the brutal massacre committed by the fascist troops of the 31st IB against the revolutionary martyrs. The CPP demands that the troops and officers involved in the massacre be made to answer for violations of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and pertinent protocols of the Geneva Conventions.
According to initial reports submitted by the NPA Sorsogon Provincial Command, local residents saw Ka Greg, Ka Nel and Ka Gary retreating from the site of the initial fighting. Despite being unarmed, they were seized and summarily-executed. They were shot in the face and their bodies riddled with bullets by the troops of the 31st IB.
Being unarmed and unable to put up any form of resistance, Ka Greg, Ka Nel and Ka Gary should have been arrested and detained as prisoners of war in accordance with provisions of the Geneva Conventions governing protagonists rendered hors de combat. They were, instead, mercilessly massacred by the soldiers of the 31st IB.
The CPP seeks an independent investigation of the July 4 Juban massacre. It calls on the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) tasked to oversee the implementation of the CARHRIHL to conduct a fact-finding effort in cases of violations of human rights and brutality. The CPP appeals to human rights groups, church groups, independent lawyers’ groups and pertinent agencies of the United Nations to undertake their own investigation into this massacre.
The CPP and all revolutionary forces vow to exact justice and punish the perpetrators of this massacre. It calls on all units of the NPA to carry out more tactical offensives to defend the people, particularly the peasant masses in Sorsogon and the Bicol region, who are being subjected to more severe violations of human rights as the AFP intensifies its Oplan Bayanihan war of suppression.
http://www.philippinerevolution.net/statements/20130706_cpp-salutes-fallen-bicol-revolutionaries-denounces-july-4-juban-massacre
The CPP identifies and salutes the NPA rebels killed by the AFP in in Barangay Calomayon, Juban, Sorsogon on July 4. This was a major victory for the AFP and so the CPP must act quickly to discredit the Philippine military's conduct during the operation by accusing them of summarily executing those NPA killed during the firefight.
ReplyDeleteAs part of this effort to discredit the AFP, the CPP calls on "human rights groups, church groups, independent lawyers’ groups and pertinent agencies of the United Nations to undertake their own investigation into this massacre."
As a result, I would expect the major CPP human rights front organization, KARAPATAN, along with other regional CPP front organizations, to mount a "fact-finding mission" to "investigate" the incident.
This fact-finding mission will undoubtedly find the AFP guilty of murdering the "red fighters" in violation of the "Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and pertinent protocols of the Geneva Conventions."