Makabayan bloc seeks probe into Fausto killings, IHL breaches

By Juliane Judilla

MANILA — The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives has filed two resolutions urging the House Committee on Human Rights to investigate alleged violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) in Negros Island, including the 2023 massacre of the Fausto family.

The bloc, composed of ACT Teachers Party-list and Kabataan Party-list, filed House Resolution No. 136 seeking a probe into the killings of sugar workers Roly and Emelda Fausto and their children, Ben, 14, and Ravin, 11, on June 14, 2023, in Buenavista, Himamaylan, Negros Occidental.

Human rights groups and witnesses allege that members of the Philippine Army’s 94th Infantry Battalion were behind the killings.

According to Human Rights Advocate Negros (HRAN), the Fausto family — members of the Baklayan, Bito, Cabagal Farmers Association and the Iglesia Filipina Independiente — had been repeatedly red-tagged, harassed, and subjected to illegal searches before the incident.

Witnesses said soldiers ransacked the family’s home on the night of the massacre, accused them of supporting the New People’s Army, and later left them dead with gunshot wounds and signs of torture.

“Maramihang kaso ng summary execution [ay] laban sa mga sibilyan at hors de combat,” ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio said in a privilege speech on Aug. 11, citing reports of killings, bombings, and militarization in peasant and indigenous communities.

Tinio also cited incidents of aerial bombings, forced evacuations, and harassment of communities opposing land grabbing, mining, and dam projects — evidence, he said, of a prevailing “de facto martial law” in rural areas.

Human rights group Karapatan has documented continuing cases of red-tagging, abductions, torture, and summary executions in Negros, contradicting the government’s claim of “stable internal peace and security” on the island.

Karapatan also reported 166 documented victims under the Anti-Terror Law and the Terrorism Financing Law.

Among them, at least 45 activists remain imprisoned on what the group claims are fabricated charges, while military operations have expanded across Mindoro, Rizal, Ilocos, Quezon, Capiz, Samar, and Negros.

Notable incidents include the killing of Peter Agudes in Tapaz, Capiz; the deaths of father and son Renato and Reymark Gabac in Samar; the shooting of civilian Juan Sumilig in Occidental Mindoro; and repeated aerial bombings in Kalinga, Abra, and Ilocos Sur between March 2023 and June 2024.

“Kanino lalapit ang mga biktima kung gobyerno mismo ang lumalabag sa kanilang karapatang pantao?” Tinio asked. (“Where can victims turn to when it is the government itself violating their human rights?”)

The Makabayan bloc called for the repeal of the Anti-Terror Law, the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, the demilitarization of ancestral lands, and the resumption of peace talks.