CPP/NPA-South Central Negros: Revolutionary government reminds the ruling class not to engage in destructive and harmful economic activities

Propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Sep 14, 2021): Revolutionary government reminds the ruling class not to engage in destructive and harmful economic activities

DIONESIO MAGBUELAS

SPOKESPERSON

NPA-SOUTH CENTRAL NEGROS (MT. CANSERMON COMMAND)

NEGROS ISLAND REGIONAL OPERATIONAL COMMAND (APOLINARIO GATMAITAN COMMAND)

NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

The Mount Cansermon Command – New People’s Army South Central Negros (MCC-NPA) burned a backhoe situated at Sitio Bulod, Barangay Carabalan, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental around 6:00 in the evening last September 11, 2021 to remind the ruling class not to engage in destructive and harmful economic activities.

What the elite calls “development projects” are detrimental to the poor peasants and the ancestral domain of the Indigenous Peoples particularly in the mountain ranges and forest lands of Cambantog, Trukat, Tahod Ilajas and Cansermon in the boundary areas of Binalbagan and Himamaylan City in Negros Occidental and La Libertad and Tayasan in Negros Oriental.

The road construction of Himamaylan City-Negros Oriental Boundary along Tayasan Road is meant to pave the way for the entry of multinational mining companies and other big businesses targeting the estimated 1,100 hectares of Tribu Itoman-Maghat-Bukidnon lands. Through the years development aggression have threatened ancestral lands of the tribe in the hinterlands of Himamaylan City.

Big capitalists have tried to initiate plantations of cash crops such as palm tree and pineapple, mining explorations in the aforementioned mountain ranges, and an area survey to construct a dam along the Ilog-Hilabangan River Basin but failed due to the collective resistance of Indigenous Peoples and other residents. These economic projects will bring in huge profits for the multinational firms but it will displace the people and their livelihood and harm the environment.

After Duterte lifted the moratorium on mining last April followed by an executive order of the provincial government of Negros Occidental supporting the move, tribe members living and farming-hunting in areas of Himamaylan City designated as forest reserve and watershed zones through the NIPAS Act of 1992 were threatened by the military to vacate their houses within 2 months. Besides using legal manipulation, the 3rd Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) launched a ceaseless military campaign employing the 62nd and 94th Infantry Battalions that resulted in grave criminal acts and human rights violations documented in the mentioned target areas. The Cambantog mountain range was bombed by the AFP using mortars and howitzer canons last June 9.

The AFP is clearly a mercenary group of the ruling class used as attack hounds to drive the people away from the areas targeted by big mining firms and as security guards of their properties and business operations.

The revolutionary government does not tolerate destructive and harmful economic activities within its territory. It is ever determined to penalize any anti-people projects.

The MCC-NPA together with the revolutionary forces remains vigilant in serving the people and the revolution. ###

https://cpp.ph/statements/revolutionary-government-reminds-the-ruling-class-not-to-engage-in-destructive-and-harmful-economic-activities/