Bohol massacre is the latest in the series of fascist crimes by Marcos regime

By Harsh Thakor*

All democrats must unanimously condemn the US-Marcos fascist regime, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) for the massacre on February 23rd of five captured revolutionaries in Bilar, Bohol and demand for justice for Domingo Compoc, Hannah Cesista, Parlito Historia, Marlon Omosura and Alberto Sancho.

The five were all captured alive and taken into custody by the fascist criminal troops of the 47th Infantry Battalion and Bohol police in Sitio Matin-ao 2, Barangay Campagao, Bilar, Bohol. They were subjected to intense and ruthless torture and put to death in cold blood.

It is sheer falsehood that is circulated by the police that the five were killed in an encounter. Local residents assured that no encounter took place that morning. What people witnessed first hand was the merciless cruelty of the military and police combat troops, in eliminating the five revolutionaries.

A picture taken shows Compoc, with arms apparently bound behind his back, under custody of a soldier of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) after being kidnapped by the military and police. Compoc, who was in his 60s, was suffering from arthritis and was helpless.. He underwent severe torture in front of a number of people in the village with the aim of instilling fear among them. Ka Silong was hacked to death, suffering fatal wounds on his neck and abdomen.

Cesista, on the other hand, a young lawyer from Cebu, who chose to serve the peasant masses and their revolutionary movement in Bohol, was flung to the ground by the soldiers and made to lie and crawl on the mud, before she was eliminated.

The ruthless killing of Compoc, Casista, Historia, Omosura and Sancho after being captured and placed under the custody of the military and police represents gross violations of international humanitarian law. The 47th IB and Bohol police, the leadership of the AFP and PNP, and Marcos himself, must be prosecuted and punished for war crimes.

A post-mortem autopsy of the remains of the victims of the Bohol massacre conducted by independent pathologists will unfold completely the brutal crime committed by the military and police.

Initial details provided by local witnesses contradict the “findings” of the so-called “scene of the crime” unit of the Philippine National Police, who are hand in glove with the police and military criminals in camouflaging the crime.

Authorities said the five were killed in a three-hour gun battle that also killed a Police Corporal Gilbert Amper.

The CPP insisted the NPA fighters were captured alive and publicly executed to scare the residents from supporting the guerrilla army. the residents were also ordered to leave after the crime, the group further revealed. It added that the so-called scene-of-the-crime report by the police is an attempt at whitewashing the massacre.

The Filipino people, peasant associations, workers unions, youth groups, lawyers, the media, church people, women and others must unite and stand with the families, friends and loved ones of the victims of the Bohol Massacre in their demand for justice. The Party and the New People’s Army resolved to punish the fascist and terrorist criminals, fighting to the last straw.

The Bohol massacre is just the latest of the series of fascist crimes that are being committed by the AFP and PNP in to extinguish the Filipino people’s armed resistance. The 47th IB, in particular, is also responsible for the killing of Manuel “Loloy” Tinio on April 4, 2023 in Ubay, Bohol, and Arthur Jasper Lucenario on May 14, 2023 in San Miguel, Bohol.

In sponsoring these fascist crimes, the Marcos regime and the AFP has further provoked the Filipino people to take up arms and join the New People’s Army to fight for their rights and advance their cause for social justice.

The people’s revolutionary armed resistance is just and imperative, being the only path for the peasant masses in their struggle for genuine land reform.

It is imperative for the people and the majority of peasant masses of Bohol, in particular to rise up in resistance and retaliate with arms. In Bohol, land remains within the control of a few big landlords, big bourgeois compradors and foreign big corporations. Majority of the peasants are tenants and oppressed subjected to merciless exploitation and economic hardship and hunger. They are being robbed of their land by big oil palm plantations and eco-tourism projects.

The Communist Party of the Philippines and the revolutionary movement paid the highest tribute to Domingo Compoc, Hannah Cesista, Parlito Historia, Marlon Omosura and Alberto Sancho. They are heroes of the Filipino people who forefeited all comforts to serve the downtrodden and oppressed masses.

Inspired by the heroism of Francisco Dagohoy, who led Bohol’s resistance for more than eight decades from 1744 to 1829 against Spanish colonial forces, the peasant masses of Bohol, together with the rest of the oppressed and exploited masses of the Filipino people, under the leadership of the Party, are ever determined to resurrect and fight with arms, however arduous the task to advance the struggle for national democracy towards complete victory.

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*Freelance journalist

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