NTF-ELCAC No massacre in Toboso, Reds given chance to surrender but they refused

Title NTF-ELCAC Setting the Record Straight on Toboso Encounter

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) h
has responded to claims that the April 19 encounter in Toboso, Negros Occid
Occidental was a massacre. According to NTF-ELCAC Executive Director Ernest
Ernesto Torres Jr., all 19 individuals killed in the incident were combatan
combatants who died during a legitimate armed engagement with government fo
forces.

Torres emphasized that attempts to portray some of the fatalities as civili
civilians, farmers, or researchers have been discredited by physical eviden
evidence, forensic findings, crime scene investigation reports, and even ad
admissions from the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (C
(CPP-NPA) itself. He noted that government troops encountered armed individ
individuals during the April 19 clash and had reason to treat them as comba
combatants.

The NTF-ELCAC chief also addressed the cases of Alysa Alano and RJ Ledesma,
Ledesma, stating that regardless of prior identity, profession, or affiliat
affiliation, individuals found armed and actively participating in an encou
encounter are considered combatants in that operational context. Torres cit
cited evidence from Police Col. Reynaldo Calaoa of the Regional Forensic Un
Unit–Negros Island Region, which showed that 11 of the 19 fatalities tested
tested positive for gunpowder residue.

The findings were significant given that several bodies were exposed to sea
seawater and high tide for nearly 24 hours before recovery. Torres noted th
that surface gunshot residue is highly vulnerable to environmental degradat
degradation, making it even more impressive that a majority still tested po
positive for residue.

Torres further stressed that negative paraffin test results do not prove an
an individual never fired a weapon, explaining that residue may no longer h
have been detectable by the time tests were conducted. He pointed out that 
the mixed findings (11 positive and 8 negative) were not unusual under unev
uneven environmental conditions, including varying levels of submersion, cl
clothing protection, and tidal movement.

The NTF-ELCAC also presented Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) findings,
findings, which showed investigators recovered more than 20 long and short 
firearms, ammunition, expended cartridges, communication equipment, backpac
backpacks, hammocks, medical supplies, and other war materiel from the enco
encounter site. At least 10 of the 19 fatalities had been publicly identifi
identified and claimed by the NPA as members of the organization.

Torres criticized what he described as shifting narratives from the CPP-NPA
CPP-NPA, which initially acknowledged 10 members killed, then 13, before la
later attempting to portray some as civilians. He emphasized that justice m
must rest on facts and truth, not on selective narratives.

In conclusion, the totality of evidence now speaks clearly physical eviden
evidence, forensic examination, scene investigation, recovered war materiel
materiel, and admissions from the armed movement itself all point in one di
direction. The Toboso incident was not a massacre; it was a legitimate arme
armed engagement.

Keywords NTF-ELCAC, Toboso, Negros Occidental, CPP-NPA, National Task 
Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, Ernesto Torres Jr., New People
People's Army, Philippines.

Edward Lance Arellano Lorilla

CEO / Co-Founder

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