The counterinsurgency policy is not only targeted against the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) but against perceived supporters or any groups standing in the way of the administration’s political and economic interests.
With all its pretensions for peace and development, Duterte’s counterinsurgency is brutal to the core.
“We only want to farm in peace. When the military arrests the people they should be protecting, who do they really serve?”
Over 600 indigenous Mangyan families have been forced to evacuate from their homes in Victoria and Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro due to military operations including low-altitude strafing and bombing.
“In the end, it boils down to the question of what can we do.”
“They would call us, three or four at a time, sometimes to the barangay hall, sometimes to the municipal hall. The interrogations would start from 10 a.m. and end 10 p.m., no breaks.”
Albayalde’s statement justifying Oplan Sauron reeks of impunity. Like Oplan Tokhang, the Philippine National Police wishes the public to regard as normal the butchering of civilians.
“The systematic series of human rights violations in Oriental Mindoro, Quezon, and the rest of Southern Tagalog all have the same pattern – they are all caused by development aggression carried out by large companies and backed by the Duterte regime.”