The New People’s Army (NPA) denied that a rebel was killed in an encounter with the 94th Infantry Battalion at Purok Maliko-liko, Sitio Cunalom, Barangay Carabalan in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, on Monday, January 9.
Ka Maoche Legislador, Apolinario Gatmaitan Command spokesperson, in a statement Wednesday said no encounter took place and killed was farmer Jose Gonzalez, 49, of Purok Maliko-liko.
Gonzalez’ daughter said her father was taken by eight personas who presented themselves as NPA members on the evening of January 8. After her father left she and her common-law husband heard gunshots around midnight, Legislador said.
The call for “local peace talks” by Col. Michael Samson, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, is a murderous psychological warfare that is a failed attempt at deodorizing the Army’s brutal counterrevolutionary war, Legislador also said.
All guerrilla fronts under the Apolinario Gatmaitan Command of the NPA Negros have time and again firmly rejected and opposed “local peace talks” and will never engage in such a phony undertaking, he added.
All NPA units in Negros are commanded to mount tactical offensives against government forces, he added.*