Continued US military support is further emboldening the Marcos Jr. regime and its fascist armed forces to continue committing war crimes against the Filipino people. Under the cover of “joint military exercises,” “security cooperation” and “humanitarian response,” and in pursuit of its oft-lapsed deadline to end the armed revolution, the US-Marcos regime has escalated bombings, forced evacuations, torture, and extrajudicial killings targeting peasants, workers, indigenous peoples, youth activists and entire rural communities.
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines denounces in the strongest terms the Toboso massacre, where many civilians and non-combatants were brutally killed in a bloody military operation that reflects the AFP’s utter disregard for international humanitarian law and human rights. The killing of civilians and the conduct of military operations with complete disregard for the principles of distinction, proportionality, and humane treatment reveal the criminal character of the reactionary state’s counterinsurgency campaign.
Even in the midst of war, there are rules that must be respected. IHL exists to protect civilians, the wounded, prisoners of war, and all those unable to take part in hostilities. It prohibits deliberate attacks on non-combatants, collective punishment, executions and the indiscriminate use of force. Marcos Jr. and the AFP continue to trample on these basic principles, proving their contempt not only for the struggling Filipino masses, but for universally recognized standards of humanity.
The AFP’s propaganda offensives following the Toboso massacre have been aimed at dehumanizing the victims and denying them dignity in death. By reducing the slain to labels and repeating claims that the armed revolutionary movement has been defeated, the regime seeks to justify its war crimes and conceal the political roots of the armed conflict.
But what the AFP says cannot be farther from the truth. The revolutionary struggle in the countryside remains alive and continues to draw strength from the fighting Filipino masses who continue to confront the unresolved crises of landlessness, poverty, exploitation and escalating repression. The blood of the Toboso martyrs will ignite a greater wave of resistance among Negrosanons and the entire Filipino people against a regime that is increasingly isolated from the masses.
No matter how the AFP lies to slander the slain martyrs of Toboso, the masses know the truth. They know that those who offered their lives in the struggle to liberate the people from oppression and exploitation are among the best sons and daughters of the motherland. Their names live in the memory, respect and unending gratitude of the people they selflessly served.
This recent atrocity in Negros is part of a broader pattern of massacres and grave violations carried out by the AFP under the command of Marcos Jr. and the guidance of his US imperialist master. Through military aid, intelligence cooperation, and diplomatic backing, US imperialism strengthens the fascist machinery used by Marcos Jr. against the Filipino people. The Philippines is set to receive up to $2.5 billion in Foreign Military Financing from 2026 to 2030, or $500 million annually, on top of previous and parallel security assistance packages. The ongoing Balikatan exercises is the largest in the history with over 17,000 personnel participating including 10,000 US soldiers, 1,400 from Japan, 400 from Australia, and many more from Canada, France and New Zealand.
These billions in military financing and relentless military drills are intended to expand the arsenal, surveillance capacity, and operational reach of the AFP. The ultimate objective of US imperialism is to use the country as a launchpad for war preparations against China which can only be made possible by defeating the armed revolution.
As early as 2023, Marcos Jr. has publicly declared the defeat of the New People’s Army in some areas of the country. When this declaration was utterly disproved, they moved the deadline to the end of 2024. They failed to meet this target once again leading to the current deadline to end the armed revolution by 2028. The US-Marcos regime’s repeated failure to meet its own deadline only shows that as long as the roots of the armed conflict remain unresolved, more and more of the Filipino people will realize the necessity of taking up arms against their oppressors.
Under the weight of their own failures and the intensifying contradictions of the ruling imperialist system today, the US and its puppet Marcos Jr. regime are bound to commit more war crimes in pursuit of their objective to quell revolutionary upsurge.
The Philippine revolutionary movement mourns the fallen of Toboso and extends deepest solidarity to their families, to their communities and their comrades. Let their memory serve as an inspiration to continue the struggle and advance the national democratic revolution to total victory.
Hold Marcos Jr and the AFP accountable for war crimes!
Justice for the victims of the Toboso massacre!
Down with US imperialism!
Support the Filipino people’s struggle for national and social liberation!