Fighter jets of the Armed Forces of the Philippines dropped at least 30 bombs on four villages in the town of Gonzaga, Cagayan province. Three helicopter gunships simultaneously carried out indiscriminate strafing with .50 caliber machine guns. The aerial attacks were carried out in four waves at 4:30 am, 5:00 am, 9:40 am and at 12:00 noon on 29 January on the villages of Sta. Clara, Sta. Isabel, Sta. Teresita and Magrafil, all in Gonzaga town.

Gonzaga is a town in Cagayan province, located in the northeast tip of the Philippines, some 600 kilometers north of Manila.

Marco Valbuena, Chief Information Officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines, denounced the AFP attacks, “These mountains serve as home and source of livelihood of indigenous Agta communities. Entire ethnic minority and peasant communities were struck by fear as a result of the air strikes and left their homes to seek safety.” He said at least 56 families have evacuated to the village gymnasium in Sta. Clara.

“We denounce the AFP for dropping bombs in the proximity of Agta communities which endangered the lives of civilians, terrorized people, and damaged forest resources from which local ethnic communities draw their food, water and medicine,” Valbuena said.

AFP officials claim the mountainous area is uninhabited.

Peter Murphy, Chairperson of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines also condemned the aerial bombardment, calling it a violation of international humanitarian law. “We call for an immediate thorough independent investigation and the immediate access of humanitarian relief to the area,” he said.

“The AFP had already claimed to have wiped out the New People’s Army in the area and there have been no reports of NPA operations in the area in the most recent months,” Murphy added. “This is a case of indiscriminate military attack on a civilian population… The population of farmers and indigenous people have been subjected to ‘red tagging’ and fake surrender of alleged NPA fighters, which are notorious forms of political repression in the Philippines.”