The people’s war intensifies as Marcos Jr’s regime suppresses the people in Eastern Visayas, Negros, Mindoro and other places in the Philippines. Encounters between the armed forces of the regime and the New People’s Army (NPA) and the latter’s purposeful tactical offensives have become more frequent. It has been a full year since Marcos Jr declared in his 2025 state of the nation address that “there are no more guerilla groups” but military actions by the NPA have been reported all over the country.
The NPA’s Efren Martires Command (NPA-EMC) reported that three fascist troops have been killed in its tactical offensives in the past months in Northern and Western Samar. On July 19, troops of the AFP’s 19th Infantry Battalion were in an ambush formation in Silvino Lobos, Northern Samar, when a lone Red fighter from the Rodante Urtal Command of the NPA-EMC spotted them and fired first, killing one soldier, and safely returned to his unit.
On June 17, a team of the NPA’s Arnulfo Ortiz Command was also able to fire first when it encountered 15 elements of the 19th IB in Matuguinao, Western Samar, killing two of the latter.
This is in the midst of the regime’s continued oppression of the people in these areas. Residents of San Jose de Buan, Samar, complained that a certain Aljhier Cabasa led troops under the AFP’s 46th IB in destroying their crops and stealing their produce.
A farmer foraging for edible plants in Las Navas, Northern Samar, was shot by soldiers of the AFP 43rd IB and nearly died. This battalion has had several similar shootings in this town in recent months.
Ka Tirado Dagohoy, spokesman of the NPA-Western Samar condemned the military’s behavior as gross violations of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).
To the west of Samar, in Negros Oriental, NPA-Central Visayas fighters fired first on a 7-man 62nd IB team, just five meters away, on the afternoon of July 1 in Hinakpan, Guihulngan City, killing one and wounding three others. This 62nd IB team was a blocking force for an encirclement maneuver by a larger 62nd IB force against the NPA unit.
Meanwhile, the local revolutionary people’s court found Jerome Ceballos guilty of a series of crimes against the revolution and the people of Negros. The revolutionary court’s investigation found that he was an intelligence agent of the Intelligence Service of the AFP (ISAFP) involved in the massacre of 10 NPAs and 9 civilians on April 19 in Salamanca, Toboso. Ceballos by the 79th IB. He was also responsible for the kidnapping, torture, and killing by the military and police of Nonoy Ponteras, a National Democratic Front-Negros official, and staff member Marisa Pobresa in March 2025. He was armed with a .45 calibre gun.
In the island of Mindoro, the Lucio de Guzman Command NPA Mindoro pays tribute to the heroic resistance of an NPA Mindoro unit against the combined fascist troops of the 76th IB and the 5th Scout Ranger Batallion in five consecutive clashes in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro on July 29, 2026. The LDGC-NPA Mindoro bestows the highest honor on Ella May "Ka Andeng/Aira" Valdehueza, Ric "Ka Balawoy/Songling" Solangon and "Ka Julia". Even if saddened by the loss of the three good children of the people, the suffering peasants and the entire Naujaneño masses vow to continue the struggle for land and other human rights.
No matter how much the NTF-ELCAC and the 203rd IBde-PNP MIMAROPA insist on declaring the town of Naujan and other towns in Central Eastern Mindoro "insurgency-free", it cannot ignore the fact that the struggle of the people of Naujuan and Mindoro for land, rights, true freedom and democracy has not disappeared and continues. During the year 2025, NPA units bravely resisted the attacks of the 203rdBde, in the battles of Pola on February 19, the battles of Baco on August 9 and 12. Meanwhile, a tactical offensive was also launched in the PNP-Mimaropa fight in the town of Victoria in July.