Negros killings

On December 27, 2018, at 7 a.m., three armed men stormed the house of the Isugan family in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental and killed one of them.[2] Few weeks later, their house was burned down by the assailants.[2] One of the family members believed that the motive of killing is the "family’s involvement in the peasant organization."[2]

On March 30, 2019, police operations were conducted simultaneously in three different municipalities within Negros Oriental, leaving 14 people dead and 12 others arrested.[4][5][6][7] According to the local police and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, who conducted the operations, said the suspects opened fire and resisted arrests while serving the warrant for illegal possession of firearms and explosives.[5][4] They added that the people were the suspected members of the Special Partisan Unit of the New People's Army (NPA).[4] PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde asserted that the operation was "not the massacre" and those people were killed are those who "fought back".[8]

Karapatan and UMA National Federation of Sugar Farmers condemned the incident, saying that these people were merely farmers and habal-habal drivers.[8] As a result, the provincial director of Negros Oriental police and three other police officers were relieved from the post.[9] Human Rights Watch and Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura called for the investigation of the killings.[9] Kabataan Party-list Rep. Sarah Elago condemned the incident, holding the Duterte administration responsible for this.[10] Elago also added that the incident brought the death toll of farmers to 197 under the Duterte administration.[11]

On April 9, the Diocese of Dumaguete called for the "impartial investigation into the deaths of these 14 men."[6] Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that the families of the slain people "should file charges."[12]

On July 18, four police officers were killed in ambush at Barangay Mabato in Ayungon town.[13] According to the authorities, the police officers said that there was a presence of New People's Army in the area when they were attacked.[13] Another source is that the police officers were allegedly being tortured after they were cornered by the groups.[14] President Rodrigo Duterte has offered a P3-million reward to find the responsible.[14] Duterte also visited the wake of the slain police officers.[15]

On July 24, Lawyer Anthony Trinidad was killed in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental after he was gunned down in an ambush by two gunmen on motorcycle and his wife was injured. Opposition Senator Leila de Lima has called for justice of Trinidad, who, "she said, represented 'political prisoners in Negros' and 'was reportedly among the names on a hit list by an alleged anti-communist group.'"[16] The Defend Negros Network said in a statement through a Facebook account that Trinidad is allegedly "among the names on a list of an alleged anti-communist group called Kawsa Guihulnganon Batok Komunista (KAGUBAK)."[16][17] On July 25, 2019, in Guihulngan, Guihulngan Science High School principal Arthur Bayawa and his sister Ardale Bayawa, and Barangay Chairman Romeo Alipan were killed inside their homes by unknown gunmen. The Bayawa siblings were killed by at least 10 assailants inside their home.[18] Forty minutes later, at 1:40 a.m. (PHT), Alipan was also killed by at least 20 unidentified gunmen at his home. Guihulngan City Police Station Lieutenant Colonel Bonifacio Tecson said that motive of killing Alipan was his joining the anti-insurgency campaign of the government.[18]

On July 26, a resident named Fedirico Sabejon of Barangay 3 in Siaton was killed by gunmen on a motorcycle.[19] On July 27, gunmen entered the house of Barangay chairman of Panubigan, Canlaon Ernesto Posadas and killed him. The suspects fled in a white van and green pick up truck after writing "Mabuhay ang NPA" (transl. Long live the NPA) and "Traydor sa NPA" (transl. Traitor to the NPA) in spray painting.[19] Five persons have been killed by unidentified gunmen including the Canlaon City Councilor Ramon Jalandoni, a 71-year-old barangay chief, Edsel Enardecido – the former mayor in Barangay Tampocon 1, and Leo Enardecido – his cousin, and Fedirico Sabejon; all of whom were killed inside their homes.[20] On July 28, a man named Anaciancino Rosalita, a resident Barangay Bucalan in Canlaon was gunned down in broad daylight, according to Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (NORPPO).[21]

On August 15, a Grade 11 senior high school named Joshua Partosa was gunned down and stabbed in the neck by four assailants aboard two motorcycles in broad daylight in Sibulan. A Barangay councilor, Raul Fat, and former Barangay councilor Fernando Toreno, were gunned down on separate places in neighboring Negros Occidental.[22]

On December 15, 2020, Mary Rose Sancelan and his husband were shot dead by a gunman on a motorcycle outside the subdivision in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental.[23]

The massacre occurred in Sagay, Negros Occidental when a group of gunmen shot and killed nine sugarcane farmers, including four women and two children, while they were eating dinner in a makeshift tent on a farm in Sagay, Negros Occidental on October 20, 2018.[24] The farmers were members of the National Federation of Sugar Workers,[25] and the massacre may have been motivated by on-going conflicts over land reform in the Philippines.[26]

On April 22, 2019, Escalante councillor and Escalante Massacre survivor Bernardino "Toto" Patigas was brazenly murdered by a motorcycle gunman hiding neither behind mask nor helmet. The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) pins the blame squarely and unambiguously on the "entrenched" hacendados and hacenderos of the island of Negros.[27]

On August 18, 2019, a 24-year-old woman named Cristal Faith Jastiva was shot in close range by two assailants on board in motorcycle while waiting for pedicab along Magsaysay Avenue in Bago, Negros Occidental.[28]

On June 23, 2020, Jose "Jerry" Catálogo of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) was assassinated by unidentified gunmen in Escalante.[29] He was reportedly placed under taxpayer-paid surveillance before his murder.[30] On August 17, Zara Alvarez, a church worker and paralegal, was gunned down in Bacolod.