House lawmakers from ACT Teachers Party-list and Kabataan Party-list have filed resolutions urging the House Committee on Human Rights to investigate the June 14, 2023 killing of the Fausto family in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental and other reported International Humanitarian Law (IHL) violations in the island.

The resolutions seek a probe into the deaths of sugar workers Roly and Emelda Fausto and their children Ben, 14, and Ravin, 11, whose killings human rights groups and witnesses allege were carried out by soldiers of the Philippine Army’s 94th Infantry Battalion.

As narrated in an earlier report, the Faustos, members of the Baklayan, Bito, Cabagal Farmers Association (BABICAFA) and Iglesia Filipina Independiente, had been repeatedly red-tagged, harassed, and subjected to illegal searches prior to the massacre.

Witnesses claimed that soldiers ransacked the family’s hut on the night of the incident, accusing them of supporting the New People’s Army, before the four were found dead with gunshot wounds and signs of torture.

“Si Alberto Piaduche, isang magsasaka sa Negros, binalutan ng plastic sa ulo at binugbog ng mga sundalo hanggang dumugo ang mata,” ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio said in a privilege speech on August 11.

“Maramihang kaso ng summary execution [ay] laban sa mga sibilyan at hors de combat,” Tinio added, citing reports of killings, bombings, and militarization in peasant and indigenous communities.

Tinio said such incidents show that “umiiral ang de facto na batas militar” (de fact martial law pervades) in rural areas, with aerial bombings, forced evacuations, and harassment of communities opposing land grabbing, mining, and dam projects.

Human rights group Karapatan has documented cases of red-tagging, abduction, torture, and summary execution in Negros, despite government declarations of “stable internal peace and security” in the island.

KARAPATAN recorded 166 victims of the Anti-Terror Law and Terrorism Financing Law, at least 45 activists imprisoned on fabricated charges, and large-scale military operations in Mindoro, Rizal, Ilocos, Quezon, Capiz, Samar, and Negros.

Documented incidents include the killing of Peter Agudes in Capiz; the murder of couple Renato and Reymark Gabac in Samar; the shooting of civilian Juan Sumilig in Occidental Mindoro; and repeated aerial bombings in Kalinga, Abra, and Ilocos Sur between March 2023 and June 2024.

Tinio linked these military operations to the entry of large mining, dam, and energy projects, noting that nearly half of the country’s 450,000 hectares of mining projects and 143,000 hectares of mega dam and energy projects are in ancestral domains.

“Kanino lalapit ang mga biktima kung gobyerno mismo ang lumabag sa kanilang karapatang pantao?” Tinio asked, calling for the junking of the Anti-Terror Law, abolition of the NTF-ELCAC, demilitarization of ancestral lands, and the resumption of peace talks.