The New People’s Army (NPA), a communist guerrilla group, has executed three alleged «counterrevolutionaries» after a judicial process without any guarantees, according to the humanitarian organization HRW.
The three victims were executed in the province of Negros Occidental, in central Philippines, after a trial in which they were accused of spying for the army and also of crimes such as rape.
The charges were brought before a «people’s court,» but no details of the trial have emerged, so HRW notes that it is not known whether the defendants were present, whether they had adequate representation, or whether they even had the option of defending themselves.
«The New People’s Army has a long history of executions after trials that do not meet the most basic criteria of justice,» warned an HRW researcher, Carlos Conde. «The scant information provided by this armed group on the executions points to the fact that, once again, the most severe punishments are applied without any respect for the precepts of international law,» he added.
A spokeswoman for the NPA, Roselyn Jean Pelle, confirmed the execution last August 26 of Benjamin Javoc, 54, chairman of the village of Lalong in Calatrava, Negros Occidental. Javoc was «notorious for protecting drug trafficking in the area» and was accused of «crimes against the people and the revolutionary movement for working for the military by giving them information».
Also executed was Renato Estrebillo, 43, a Calatrava worker. Estrebillo was executed on August 12 for «tipping off» the 79th Infantry Battalion that prompted a military intervention on July 6. Two children were wounded and a civilian was detained by the military. Estrebillo was also «a known thief of animals and agricultural products».
Finally, on August 7, Rodel Nobleza, 37 and also from a village of Calatrava, was executed for giving information to the Army, which triggered a raid in April 2019 in which two guerrilla members and a civilian were killed. Nobleza is also alleged to be a drug trafficker.
HRW has requested information from the NPA about the judicial process and the executions, but has not received «a substantial response.» However, the humanitarian group warns that according to press reports, none of the three was held by the NPA during the trials, so it is understood that they were unable to defend themselves.
Javoc was reportedly shot in his own house; Estrebillo, when he was leaving his house, and Nobleza when the guerrillas stopped him while he was driving a motorcycle with two minors.
HRW recalls that in its 53-year history, the NPA has executed numerous people convicted by its people’s courts. Many were convicted ‘in absentia’. They also allegedly executed and tortured dissidents of the NPA or the Communist Party of the Philippines, particularly during the purges of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
