THE 303rd Infantry Brigade (303IB) of the Philippine Army on Wednesday, March 10, 2021, denied that they were behind the "death threats" received by 10 activists through text messages in Negros Occidental.
Colonel Michael Samson, deputy commander for the 303IB, said they were not behind the messages received by activists, although they were surprised that the list was accurate.
Samson said the military was unable to accurately get the list of names of activists in Negros Occidental.
Based on the list presented on a screenshot of the text messages which were uploaded online by Karapatan-Negros, among those in the list were Iver of Bacolod, which is believed to be Iver Larit of Kadamay-Negros; Butch of Bacolod or John "Butch" Lozande of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW); Erning of Bacolod, who has been identified as Ereneo Longinos of Bayan Negros; Clarissa of Bacolod or Clarizza Singson, secretary-general of Karapatan-Negros; Christian of Bacolod, believed to be Christian Tuayon, former secretary-general of Bayan-Negros; Epi of Negros or Felibe Gelle of September 21 Movement; Darel of Kabankalan believed to be Dharyll Albanez, also September 21 Movement; and Roque of Bacolod, believed to be Rolando Rillo of NFSW.
Also in the listwere Alias Tatay "Ogie" and his wife, and Berting of Bacolod.
According to Samson, the list presented in the text message also matched with the revelations they received from former insurgents of the New People's Army who have surrendered to government forces.
Samson said the former rebels told them it was the insurgents' modus operandi to release such information before the government forces to sow misunderstanding and place the blame on them if something happens to the activists.
The army official added that he already expects activists will criticize his statements and they will call it mere propaganda.
The death threats against the 10 activists came just days following a string of raids conducted by the Philippine National Police last Sunday in Calabarzon that resulted in the deaths of nine people and the arrest of six activists.