NTF-ELCAC Condemns Atrocities of CPP–NPA; Renewed Killings in Negros Reveal Continued Pattern of Terror

November 20, 2025

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) strongly condemns the series of brutal killings perpetrated by the CPP–NPA in Negros Island—acts that once again expose the group’s longstanding pattern of targeting innocent civilians under the guise of so-called “revolutionary justice.”

Since early 2024, more than 15 farmers, barangay leaders, and community members have been murdered in incidents that the CPP–NPA has openly claimed responsibility for. These killings, far from isolated, reflect a disturbing return to the purge-style executions that have marked some of the most violent chapters in the group’s history.

For over five decades, the CPP–NPA has carried out similar atrocities under various internal campaigns—from Oplan Zombie and Kampanyang Ahos to Project Olympia and Kadena de Amor—resulting in the deaths of thousands of farmers, workers, students, Indigenous Peoples, and even its own members. Families across the country continue to search for loved ones who were abducted, tortured, or buried in unmarked graves during these purges.

The recent killings in Negros follow this same pattern. The murders of civilians Raul Loterio and Jomy Pelarta, both publicly claimed by the NPA’s Romeo Nanta Command, demonstrate that the group’s so-called “people’s court” remains nothing more than a mechanism for summary execution. In Cauayan, the Armando Sumayang Jr. Command has intensified attacks on barangay officials whose only role was serving their constituents. Meanwhile, remnants operating in northern Negros—particularly the faction led by wanted NPA figure Roger Fabillar—have turned increasingly violent as government operations succeeded in dismantling five guerrilla fronts in the island.

NTF-ELCAC emphasizes that the CPP–NPA remains a designated terrorist organization under the Philippine government, the United States, and the European Union—an international designation borne out of decades of bombings, assassinations, extortion, forced recruitment, and internal cleansing. That the group now publicly claims responsibility for killing unarmed civilians only reinforces what communities have long known: the CPP–NPA’s victims are overwhelmingly ordinary Filipinos.

The Task Force assures the people of Negros that support will continue to flow to communities affected by these attacks. Families of victims will not be left unheard, and the truth about these atrocities will not be overshadowed by propaganda or distortion.

“No ideology, no political claim, and no narrative can ever justify the killing of farmers, barangay officials, and community members,” NTF-ELCAC stressed, urging the public to reject attempts to sanitize or romanticize the CCP–NPA’s violent actions.

As Negros grieves, the NTF-ELCAC calls on all sectors to stand with the victims, uphold the dignity of every Filipino, and work together to ensure that no armed group is ever again allowed to perpetrate killings in the name of revolution.