Another civilian killed by suspected rebels in Kabankalan

By Glazyl M. Jopson

BACOLOD CITY — A 39-year-old man was gunned down by suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Purok Tuburan, Barangay Tapi, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, on Monday.

Initial investigation showed that the victim was about to ride his motorcycle when unidentified persons approached and shot him in the head using an unknown firearm. He was declared dead in a hospital.

Police were conducting a follow-up investigation in the area regarding a stabbing incident when gunshots were heard.

Police Lt. Col. Gary Alan Resuma, chief of the Kabankalan City Police Station, said that while police responded to the shooting incident, the Army’s 15th Infantry Battalion was conducting monitoring in the area in response to past insurgency-related incidents.

Police and Army personnel then conducted a joint pursuit operation against the perpetrators, resulting in an armed confrontation.

One of the suspects was believed to have sustained a gunshot wound due to a blood-stained slipper recovered at the scene, according to a police report.

However, the suspects identified as alias “R-jay,” 30, and alias “Makoy/Akiro,” 30, both residents of Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, managed to evade arrest.

Resuma said the victim had received threats before. Police are looking into grudges as a possible motive in the killing.

The victim’s motorcycle, used by the perpetrators as a getaway vehicle, was recovered in Barangay Tampalon.

The incident follows the murder of a 74-year-old grandmother in the same village early this month, which was claimed by the NPA.

It also follows the murder of a 48-year-old farmer in Barangay Santol, Binalbagan, Negros Occidental, on Feb. 17.

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) has joined the growing call for justice for civilians killed in Negros Island, following reports from the 3rd Infantry Division that 28 individuals have been slain since March 2025, an average of two civilians murdered every month.

In a statement, Executive Director Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. said the pattern of killings is deeply alarming and morally indefensible.

“When two civilians are being murdered every month on one island alone, we are no longer speaking of isolated incidents, we are confronting a sustained campaign of terror,” he added.

Torres stressed that branding civilians as informants or “spies” without due process effectively paints a target on their backs.

“This is the deadly consequence of so-called ‘spy-tagging.’ Once labeled by the communist terrorist group as a traitor or government asset, a civilian becomes a marked individual — condemned without trial, without evidence, without humanity,” Torres emphasized.

Torres warned that the steady average of two fatalities per month signals a disturbing normalization of violence in communities already burdened by poverty and insecurity.

“Violence has no place in communities that are striving for peace and development,” he stressed.

He echoed the call of the 3ID urging the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to conduct a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into the killings.

“We respectfully urge the CHR to look squarely into these crimes. Human rights must apply equally to all,” Torres said.

“Justice must never be selective. Silence in the face of these killings only emboldens further bloodshed,” he added.

The NTF-ELCAC said it stands with the families of the victims and demands accountability.