By Andrea Mae Ecoy
SIPALAY CITY, Negros Occidental —Farmers and residents in Barangay Manlucahoc face looming threats to their livelihood, civilian safety and community security as the Philippine Army prepares for a three-day live-fire exercise.
The Alpha Battery of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Field Artillery Battalion (3rd FAB) under the 3rd Infantry Division, is scheduled to hold the exercise on October 29 to 31. Military authorities plan to enforce mobility limits and prohibit residents from entering an eight-kilometer impact zone.
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP-Negros) and Human Rights Advocates in Negros (HRAN) condemned the exercise, emphasizing its direct socio-economic toll on the local peasantry.
“It can be recalled that on August 2024, similar activities were held that caused disturbances in the daily lives of the farmers for about 5 days and created fear where a cannon ammunition from 105 mm artillery landed near a house causing a big crater,” KMP Negros said.
“The people’s lives and livelihoods are being put in jeopardy as the military holds dress rehearsals in preparation for its complicit role in the brewing imperialist conflict between the United States and China,” HRAN in a statement added, criticizing the planned exercise and linking it to the military’s role in escalating geopolitical tensions.
Rights groups warned that the artillery fire will induce severe psychological distress, reviving traumatic memories of military operations in Southern Negros. KMP-Negros cited the late-1980s Oplan Thunderbolt—which resulted in mass displacement, military abuses,
and child fatalities in evacuation centers—alongside recent aerial bombings across Negros Island in 2024.
Beyond immediate safety risks, HRAN situated the military exercises in what it called a “pattern” of militarization used as a tool to advance corporate interests and pave the way for state-backed development aggression in Negros Island.
“In truth, these exercises form part of a pattern of using militaristic force to clear areas in Negros Island in preparation for developments that eventually displace communities, especially farmers, farmworkers, and Indigenous Peoples. In the name of counterinsurgency the military enforces state terrorism to cow residents in fear and quell resistance to developmental aggression,” HRAN elaborated in its statement.
As the scheduled dates approach, KMP-Negros is urging residents to petition local government units to halt the exercise. Both organizations are demanding the immediate withdrawal of the 15th Infantry Battalion from rural communities, citing ongoing threats,
harassment, and red tagging of agrarian leaders.
“We also demand for the pull out of all military personnel of the 15th Infantry Battalion from communities in Negros Island and an end to all exercises and actions that put the rights, lives, and livelihoods of marginalized sectors in jeopardy,” HRAN concluded as they stand with the residents of Barangay Manlucahoc
