BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – Army officials in the island are unfazed by the acoustic war of the Communists through their urban-based “fronts” who are accusing State forces of murdering a family of four in an upland village in Himamaylan City despite an official probe showing the New People’s Army to be the culprits behind the carnage.
Lieutenant Colonel Van Donald Almonte told DNX rifle units of the 94th Infantry Battalion are still chasing guerrillas of the NPA who were pinpointed by the police to have murdered the couple Emilda and Roly Fausto and their sons, Raben and Ben early in the morning of 14 June 2023 in the upland community of Kangkiling in Buenavista, a mountain village reputed as a former rebel stronghold.
Almonte said the claims raised by representatives of activist groups who came from Manila and held a supposed fact finding mission pinpointing the unit he leads as responsible for the massacre is nothing more than an attempt to draw them away from the battlefield.
They just want us to stop running after the NPA unit responsible for the crime, Almonte said.
Both Camp Montelibano and the Himamaylan Police have earlier said Fernando Herminio, an NPA area commander related to the Faustos, led the rebel group that killed the five victims.
