Dom Pantaleon
Pulang Mt. Talinis Front Command
New People’s Army-Southeastern Negros
September 15, 2008
The NPA Mt. Talinis Front Command based in southeast Negros island implemented last September 9 a directive from the Provisional Revolutionary Government to punish the Tamlang Valley Agricultural Development Corporation (TVADC) for promoting and planting jathropa and cassava in the said area.
According to Ka Dom Pantaleon, spokesperson of the NPA Mt. Talinis Front Command, Red fighters seized and immediately burned three tractors owned by the TVADC late Tuesday night in sitio Cuadra, barangay Mantikil, Siaton town in Oriental Negros.
The punitive action was implemented after it was proven that the year-old TVADC project has gravely dislocated the planting of the traditional corn, rice and other food crops in Tamlang Valley, he said.
Lands previously used by farmers for own-consumption food production were now forcibly used for bio-fuel purposes, and a succession of Army battalions were employed to actively harass and dupe farmers to plant jathropa and cassava, he added.
Early this year, the 79th IB was deployed to southeast Negros at about the same time that the 302nd Brigade previously based in Bohol transferred headquarters to Tanjay City, Oriental Negros. Before this, it was the 61st IB that took care of the AFP’s counter-revolutiona ry campaign in the said area.
During Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s last State-of-the- Nation Address (SONA), she boasted that “jatropha estates are starting in 900 hectares in and around Tamlang Valley in Negros Oriental.” Tamlang Valley covers several barangays that border the towns of Sta. Catalina, Siaton and Valencia in upland Oriental Negros.
Stable business or staple food
The revolutionary movement in southeast Negros will continue to block efforts of the reactionary Manila-centered government to impose the planting of jathropa and other plants for bio-fuel purposes, Ka Dom Pantaleon said.
Aside from worsening the poverty and hunger already experienced by peasants in upland barangays of the province, this also serves to railroad further the Filipino people’s struggle for food security through genuine agrarian reform, he emphasized.
It is utterly wrong to prioritize the planting of agricultural crops that benefit only foreign corporations and local politicians, he added.
Newspaper reports confirm that hundreds of farmers belonging to the provincial farmers group Kaugmaon [Kahugpongan Alang sa Ugma sa mga Gagmay’ng Mag-uuma sa Oriental Negros (Association for the Future of Small Farmers of Oriental Negros)] have already demanded that local government units provide them with food assistance as temporary remedy to the hunger that pervades many hinterland barangays in Oriental Negros.
TVADC is co-owned by the family of former Congressman Herminio Teves.
It is no wonder that Oriental Negros is considered even by the reactionary government as one of the 20 poorest provinces in the country today, he also said.
Military against peasants
It is now clear that military presence in southeast Negros was further increased this year to force the large-scale planting of jathropa and cassava in Tamlang Valley and to provide protection to a processing plant already built for the purpose in Siaton town; those who dare to oppose this project are branded “NPA members” and subjected to various forms of human rights abuses, Ka Dom Pantaleon said.
To recall, two farmers from Sta. Catalina town went missing after being separately arrested by the now-transferred 61st IB several months ago. A certain Reynold Yanoc remain missing when soldiers in barangay Talalak picked him up last December 5, while Flaviano Arante went missing after being arrested at his residence in barangay Nagbinlod last January 25. Their families’ petitions for the writ of amparo were denied by the Court of Appeals in Cebu City last May.
Media reports during the last two years confirm the rise in human rights violations in southeast Negros ranging from illegal arrests and detention to forcible evacuation as documented by the human rights group Karapatan.
That the military employed artillery fire and air-to-ground explosives after an encounter with the Red fighters last Monday (September 
showed its growing desperation amidst the people’s widespread opposition to jathropa and cassava planting, the NPA spokesperson emphasized.
Ka Frank Fernadez’ recent declaration is indeed true; the AFP Central Command (Centcom) and its 3rd Division are daydreaming in boasting that they can “reduce to an inconsequential level” the revolutionary armed movement in Negros island by the end of this year, he said.
Ka Dom Pantaleon said that the use of heavy artillery fire and air-to-ground explosives - via 105-mm Howitzer cannons and 2 SF Marchetti aircrafts of the PAF 15th Strike Wing - were resorted to by the military after one of its men - Pfc. Reynald Ramos - was killed in an early morning firefight with an NPA unit in sitio Payao-payaoan, barangay Nagbinlod in Sta. Catalina, Oriental Negros. The Red army did not suffer any dead or wounded in that firefight, he said.
It was the fifth major armed encounter between units of the NPA Pulang Mt. Talinis Front Command and the Army’s 302nd Brigade since May this year. Before that, encounters occurred last May 27 in barangay Talalak, Sta. Catalina town where a soldier - Pfc. Jessie Enolino - was killed and another soldier wounded; last May 29 in barangay Nagbinlod in Sta. Catalina town; last July 8 in barangay Basak, San Jose town; and last August 25 in barangay Milagrosa, Sta. Catalina town.
In these 5 incidents, only one Red fighter was wounded, Ka Dom Pantaleon concluded.
Approved For Release By:
Ka Dom Pantaleon
Spokesperson
Pulang Mt. Talinis Front Command
NPA - Southeastern Negros